Encroaching Darkness
by Ryououki
Summary: In a post-apocalyptic future the azugirls must band together to survive. Only through courage and friendship will these girls save themselves, and just maybe even the whole world.
1. Prologue

**Encroaching Darkness**

A/N: This is not your average Azumanga Daioh fanfic. Set a few years after high school graduation, the azugirls have graduated from college. But a terrible virus has brought the apocalypse, killing off almost all of mankind. In addition, rumors of giant, man-eating insects plague the azugirls left in Japan. Only through courage and friendship can these young women survive the apocalypse, and just maybe save mankind altogether.

--Somewhere in the state of Califonia--

Sitting alone, Mihama Chiyo shuffled through her ever-growing piles of research on the virus that had taken the lives of almost every person on the planet. She frustratingly came to the same conclusion she had so many times before: without a vaccine mankind would surely face annihilation. Despite having three college degrees and even a doctorate the teenage girl wasn't trained in medicine, and although she had tried, over and over, she hadn't even the slightest bit of success in developing a vaccine. But not all hope was lost, she lived in a small community of survivors, and many people were working for a vaccine. Chiyo sighed as she reached for her laptop computer and turned it on. The vaccine wasn't her biggest concern, however, as she was much more interested in the origins of the deadly strain.

At about the same time as the outbreak struck rumors of giant, man-eating insects in the forests of Japan arose. This was brought to Chiyo's attention by an Email sent to her from Tomo, an Email she was once again reading over. At first it appeared as yet another prank from the wildcat, but coupled with the disease Chiyo was certain the two events were connected. She did as much research as she could before communications died along with the majority of the human race. It wasn't a lot, but the teenaged genius was sure this was no prank, and that these mysterious creatures brought upon the planet that horrible virus. Closing her laptop she sighed again. "I have to go see it for myself," the girl assured herself.

But getting to Japan was no easy task, since civilization had collapsed. "I don't know how to fly an airplane or sail a boat," Chiyo thought as she got up from her desk and slowly walked to her shabby little bedroom. It was a tiny room Chiyo, with only her small bed and a nightstand occupying the dreary room. Upon the nightstand lay a lamp, a book, and a CB radio. "Should I try to find someone who can help me get to Japan?" she asked herself eyeing her radio. She dismissed the thought, everyone here was busy holding the little community together and trying to find a vaccine. Chiyo sat down on her bed lost in her thoughts as she tried to determine the best way for her to get to Japan. After going through several possibilities she decided on a course of action. Satisfied with herself the young genius laid down and quickly gave into slumber's embrace.

The next day set about her plans; she gathered up her few belongings and her research and packed them away. For the sake of humanity she had to go and look into the rumors of the insects; however the people of their small community surely wouldn't see her point of view. "I have to be strong," she reassured herself as she picked up the receiver of her CB radio and announced her imminent departure, to the protests of all who were listening. She asked favors of those who could help; she needed any book from the library about boating, supplies for her voyage, information on where to find a worthy vessel, and, most importantly, Chiyo requested a gun and ammunition. She had heard that the insects of rumor were vicious and carnivorous, but she had no idea what she was truly getting herself into.

Having said goodbye to her friends Chiyo drove off, headed for the nearest port. This was the beginning of Chiyo's journey. She knew the journey to Japan would be long and hard. However this would pale in comparison to the hardships waiting for her in Japan. A land cast in the shadow of death, where every survivor dreaded the twilight hour and the long night that followed. This land had become a place of nightmares, where horrible monsters stalked the streets at night searching for their next meal in any human whom did not find proper shelter. The community Chiyo had known as home drew ever smaller in her rearview mirror. The girl softly spoke to herself in a determined voice, "I know these insects hold the answer! I know it!"

A/N: The prologue is short. The average chapter will be about four to five times longer. Although a bit rough in the beginning, the writing seems to improve over time. I've reposted every chapter to fix the format and I also did some minor changes to improve some of the earlier chapters.


	2. Trials and Tribulations

A/N: This is Chapter One. I'm not entirely happy with it even though I've gone back and worked on it. Still, the majority of it is good.

--Dawn breaks over a small suburb in Japan--

A bespectacled girl drew in slow breaths as she undid several sturdy locks keeping the heavy metal door above her closed. The girl having freed the door from its restraints brought her watch to her face straining to read it in the nearly complete darkness that surrounded her. Having reassured herself, the girl, in one quick and violent action, swung the door open and exited the sturdy shelter with a rifle at the ready. She quickly scanned the immediate area through the sights of her weapon.

The woman let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding and called into the shelter, "Its all clear." Looking up into the sky she gladly added, "And it looks like a sunny day too!"

The girl stood slightly taller than the average Japanese woman, sporting an outfit right out of an action movie. She was dressed in boots, cargo pants, a tank top, a heavy backpack, and even wearing a headband and an ammo belt across her chest. The only thing separating her from a cliché action movie hero was the plain pair of glasses accenting her face. She had a nice figure with a bust larger than most Japanese. Her hair a light shade of brown, swung to the low of her back. This woman was armed with a military grade automatic rifle, a side arm pistol, and a knife fitted into her ammo belt, surely an imposing figure that emphasized practicality over aesthetics.

Out from what clearly was an old bomb shelter come this woman's companion, oddly clutching a cat to her bosom. This woman was even taller than her friend, with an even more voluptuous figure. Her hair looked magnificent, her ebony locks cascading all the way down to her knees. This woman was truly a beauty to behold. Her outfit was much simpler than her companion's, however, only wearing a pair of tennis shoes, jeans, and a T-shirt. She also sported a backpack, although it was not as large as the other girl's. Her left hand being occupied by a brownish, striped cat, she held in her right hand a pistol as her only weapon.

"It feels nice," the taller woman commented, leaving her friend to speculate the meaning of those words.

"Come on Sakaki," the brunette said with a heavy heart, "we are running low on water." Sakaki nodded in affirmation. Neither woman looked forward to procuring more supplies, as it was a dangerous affair. But there was no other recourse for them, "I'll grab some bags," the brunette announced, heading back into the darkness of their shelter. She appeared near the entrance of the shelter, "Give me a hand with these?" the woman asked her companion.

"Sure, Yomi," was her simple reply as she set the cat down on the grass and holstered her weapon to help Yomi drag out what looked like empty luggage bags. Having collected the needed baggage, the two women and one cat set off into the city toward an abandoned convenience store the women knew should have some bottled water.

--Somewhere not far from the bomb shelter--

As the two women approached an abandoned store Yomi lamented, "The bottled water won't last forever." She tuned to Sakaki who merely nodded in affirmation, "We could collect water from rain, I suppose," Yomi commented.

"You shouldn't drink stagnant water," was Sakaki's reply.

"Yeah, we could boil it though. Maybe store it in empty bottles?" Yomi suggested, "We should keep the empty bottles, just in case." Sakaki agreed once more with the shorter girl as they arrived at their destination.

It was a creepy sight, the buildings all around were in disrepair, and this store was no exception. Pitch dark inside the automatic door was bent and the glass shattered. Across the face of the store its sign advertising it was impossible to read and hanging by a mere thread as vines crept up along all the walls, threatening to squeeze out any life left in the decrepit structure. Yomi reached upon the barrel of her rifle and turned on an attached flashlight as Sakaki produced a large flashlight from her backpack. The two shone their lights through the broken doors and windows of the building, cautiously looking for any threats that may lie within.

"It doesn't look like there are any bugs in there," Yomi finally said after they had peered into the structure for quite some time.

"Mayaa," Sakaki stated simply as she set the cat down, "Wait here, okay?" The cat offered no reply outside of it tilting its head slightly. Mayaa watched helplessly as his mistress and Yomi cautiously entered the building, Yomi constantly scanning with her rifle, and Sakaki dragging the bags inside.

"Over there," Yomi said as her flashlight illuminated the broken refrigerators containing the items they set out to get. Sakaki set her flashlight on the ground as she loaded all the water into the suitcase that she could fit. "Good," Yomi commented, still scanning for any would-be threat, "while we're here we should try to find some food too." Sakaki grunted in agreement as she zipped up the full suitcase and dragged it out of the store to an awaiting Mayaa.

"No Mayaa" Sakaki protested as the cat rubbed her leg begging to be held, "we're almost done." She returned into the blackness of the store and made her way back to where she had left her flashlight and the second bag. Grabbing the bag she went to pick up the flashlight and froze instantly at what caught her eye.

Yomi was scanning an isle with canned food savoring the taste of whatever she saw when she heard a shriek that could only have come from her friend followed by several gunshots. "Shit!" Yomi cursed at herself for letting her guard down as she ran to the source of the commotion. At the end of her isle she saw Sakaki run by toward the exit, the taller girl offered a quick and panicked "Run! Bugs!" as she ran by. Yomi silently cursed their luck and turned toward the exit to see a large, pale white insect in her way, she immediately opened fire on the disgusting creature. It let out an alien howl as Yomi's bullets tore through its body before it crumpled to the ground. Yomi instantly ran over the felled creature and toward the exit as she heard several more bugs behind her. The windows at the front of the door shone brightly in Yomi's eyes as she rushed toward them with all of her being. She could hear her heart beating loudly in her ears as she felt the presence of the bugs begin to envelop her.

"No!" Yomi screamed out in her mind as she we forced to the ground from an impact from behind causing her rifle to skid across the floor. She was so close! The windows were only a couple meters from her. "Sakaki! Help!" she heard herself screaming as she quickly rolled onto her back and stared in the gaping maw of an insect as it prepared to crush her with its mandibles. Yomi watched helplessly as it mandibles snapped open preparing to bite her, a bite that surely had enough force to crush her skull. Everything seemed to slow down to a crawl for Yomi as she grabbed her side arm and the insect lurched forward to bite, "It's too late," she thought as its mandibles began to snap down. Just as she was sure her time had come the insect's head snapped backwards, and time seemed to begin to flow normally again. As she was wondering what had happened Yomi's senses returned to her, and she recognized the sounds of gunshots. She turned to see Sakaki standing in the window, both hands gripping her pistol and she fired shots at Yomi's assailant. Yomi quickly scrambled to her feet and made a dash for the window, covering her face with her arms as she jumped through the window which still held shards of flesh-rending glass in its frame.

Yomi landed painfully on the sidewalk and was immediately pulled away from the building by Sakaki. Both girls looked on to see several bugs. They appeared to be large beasts measuring two meters long, having six legs and sometimes standing on four. Their front two legs were well developed and very powerful, having menacing claws at the ends. The insects also sported mandibles almost a half meter long and strong enough to crush steel. Their exoskeletons had a sickly white color and they were somewhat transparent. The bugs lurched out of the store to get at the girls, but as each one exited it quickly rushed back into the darkness of the store.

"I dropped my gun," Yomi lamented, assured that the two were safe from the bugs. Sakaki offered no response, only gazed on at the queer sight of the lurching mass of bugs that refused to step out of the store. Yomi sighed, she had lost her gun and they had lost one of their bags too. But at least the water was safe, and neither one of them had been badly injured.

"Mayaa?" Sakaki called out, "Mayaa where are you?!" Sakaki was frantically going about looking for her beloved cat.

Yomi felt a sense of dread come over her, but pushed it aside looking for something more logical, "The bugs probably just scared him, Sakaki. He will show up."

Sakaki wasn't convinced and continued shouting for her cat. The two proceeded to search the immediate area, with no signs of the missing cat. Yomi wasn't about to convince Sakaki to leave without the cat, at least not this early in the day. As the pair rounded the store and once again came to the front, Yomi spied something that confirmed her worst fears: Mayaa's collar lying in front of the window in a small pool of blood. The insects were still crowded around the window roaring to get at the two women.

Yomi tried to distract the distraught woman away from the sight, but to no avail. Sakaki stopped shouting Mayaa's name and froze in place. "No." she breathed. "No!" Sakaki shouted as she raised her gun and fired into the insects until the gun's clip was exhausted. She then ran out toward the window. Yomi tried to grab her and stop her, but Sakaki wrenched herself free and continued desperately running towards the collar.

"Shit," Yomi cursed as she raised her pistol and fired into the insects hoping to keep them away from Sakaki as she retrieved the collar.

By some miracle Sakaki was able to retrieve the collar and get safely away from the horde. "Mayaa," Sakaki cried softly as she cradled the collar to her chest, "Mayaa."

--Back at the bomb shelter--

The two women sat in the cramped quarters of the bomb shelter that had become their home. The only light illuminating them a small electric lamp in the center of the room. "She's been crying for hours," Yomi thought, trying to come up with some sort of idea to console to the poor woman. Sakaki had been clutching Mayaa's collar in a death grip ever since she retrieved it, and had been crying since they had returned to their makeshift home. Finally deciding to at least do something Yomi scooted over to Sakaki and wrapped her arms around the sobbing woman. Sakaki responded by turning into Yomi and wailing into her arms. Nothing was said between the two as Sakaki cried out her grief into her friend's embrace.

--The sun, shining brightly in the sky, stares down at two figures walking a street somewhere in Tokyo--

The two women walked in silence, ever moving, trying to find against all hope other people that had survived the virus and the deadly bugs that terrorized the night. "It's hot!" the girl in front complained breaking the suffocating silence.

The girl behind her stared at her though the familiar image of a camcorder. "Do ya think they don't like hot weather?" she asked, still looking through her camcorder at her companion.

The girl in front turned to her friend and wiped the sweat from her brow, "I dunno, maybe." Eyeing her friend the girl in front frowned, "Why are you recording now? It's just gonna waste the batteries."

The girl behind the camera seemed to think a minute before replying, "If tha bugs eat us I want someone ta know who we were."

The girl in behind the camcorder was a short girl, plain looking, and flat chested. Had it not been hidden behind a camcorder the girl's expression surely would have been blank. She was wearing a simple, if somewhat old-fashioned, dress and sandals. Her hair was black and hung halfway down her back. Aside from the camcorder she was dragging along a large rolling luggage bag. She continued to stare at her friend through her camcorder. Her friend was of average height, with an above average bust. Her build, while feminine, was quite muscular. Her outfit was practical; a T-shirt, jeans, running shoes, and a rather large backpack. Her hair dark brown and very messy was cut short. This girl was armed to the teeth; holding a military rifle, having a shotgun on her back, and having a side arm on each hip. She even had grenades on a strap going across her chest.

The two walked aimlessly while talking about everything and nothing at all. "Hey, Kagura," the girl behind the camera started, "what're we gonna do? Yanno, if we do find some more people."

Kagura looked thoughtful for a minute before responding with a confident smile, "I don't know, Osaka, but I'm sure whoever we come across will have a good idea!"

"Yeah," Osaka responded, "maybe then we could kill tha insect queen!" Kagura was about to respond when Osaka blurted out "Look!"

The athletic girl turned to Osaka to find her looking through her camera across the abandoned street. Following the space cadet's gaze her breath caught in her chest. It was another person! Across the street there stood a shaggy looking man holding a pistol and wearing a worn backpack.

"Hey!" Kagura shouted to get the man's attention, "Over here!"

The man looked up and saw a sight he was certain he'd never see again, two people. And not just people, but two women. "Hey!" he returned the greeting as he crossed the street to the two girls. He found Kagura to be stunning, surely a sight for sore eyes. "She looks dangerous," he thought as he eyed her with ravenous intent. The other girl, while being very plain, seemed to me much less of a potential threat.

"Hi," Kagura greeted the man, "I'm Kagura and this is my old friend Osaka. It's been ages since we've seen another person!"

Once more eyeing Osaka the man thought, "Friend huh?" The man barely heard Kagura ask his name as he continued to stare at Osaka, weighing his options. Tightly gripping his pistol he suddenly grabbed Osaka and put the gun to her head. Osaka struggled feebly against the man with her left hand while her right, amazingly, still held her camera to her face.

Kagura could barely believe her eyes as she tried to figure out just what was going on. "What are you doing?!" she shouted at the man as she raised her rifle, trying to aim at the man behind Osaka. She watched in disbelief as the man's grip moved to Osaka's chest.

Osaka let out a yelp at the contact, "Stop it!" she whined.

"Put down your weapon!" the man warned.

Still staring through her sights Kagura refused, "No way! You let her go!"

The man's gun wavered pointing to Kagura and back to Osaka, "Just…Just go away!" he shouted at Kagura.

"If you try anything I swear I'll kill you!" Kagura retorted, "What do you hope to accomplish?! Just let her go!" The man's eyes glared down the barrel of Kagura's gun.

Osaka had ceased struggling and only stared at Kagura, "Do somethin' Kagura!" she begged.

Kagura looked desperately to her friend. What could she do? She wasn't confident enough in her accuracy to hit the man without harming her. "Please, let her go! We'll forgive you! You can come with us! Just let her go!" Kagura begged.

The man shifted his hold on Osaka, "Move and I'll kill you," he whispered to Osaka as his hold on her released in order to traverse under her dress.

"Stop it!" both Kagura and Osaka shouted.

Once more staring at Kagura the man said in a low steady voice, "It's been ages since I've seen anyone. I'll never have this chance again; I'm not going to let you stop me!"

As the man pulled at Osaka's panties Kagura squeezed off a shot. Although the bullet found no target the sound of the weapon startled all three and none more than Osaka who flailed at the sound of the shot. Accidently dropping her camera Osaka immediately made a grab for it, torquing her body and allowing a clear path between the man and Kagura. Without thinking Kagura reacted, taking advantage of the split second situation. Osaka, suddenly oblivious to the world around her, scrambled to pick up her camera and make certain it wasn't damaged. Seeing that it wasn't she breathed a sigh of relief.

Osaka looked up to see a rather shocked Kagura, and suddenly Osaka realized that man didn't have ahold of her anymore. She turned around and saw nothing, then slowly lowered the camera to see the corpse of the man, a single bullet wound on his forehead.

"I wonder if he knew what we should do," Osaka wondered aloud, still staring at the man's corpse through her camcorder.

Kagura had regained some of her senses and finally lowered her rifle, "I killed him. I killed a person. I…I'm a murderer" her thoughts raced. Holding back her tears she called out to Osaka in a broken voice, "C…Come on, get your bag and…and let's go." She tried desperately to keep her composure, and failed miserably "We…We gotta find shelter, it's gonna be night soon." Osaka complied and followed her friend and savior looking for a safe place to spend the night.

--Just after dusk inside a hastily fortified house--

The two girls sat near an oil lamp which illuminated most of the small room the two had barricaded themselves inside of. Osaka was shuffling around the suitcase looking for new batteries and a fresh memory card for her camcorder as Kagura sat in silence, hugging her knees to her chest.

After replacing the parts on her camcorder Osaka brought it once again to her face and turned it to Kagura, "It's done!" Osaka announced. Noticing Kagura's distraught expression Osaka carefully put the camcorder down, "Are ya okay?" she asked.

Kagura tried to respond but her voice caught in her throat and only a sob escaped.

Osaka moved over to her friend and wrapped her arms around her, "Ya saved me from that man! You're a hero! Ya should be proud a' what'cha done!"

Kagura stiffened in her arms, "I'm not a hero!" she emotionally blurted out, "I killed that man! I'm a murderer!"

Osaka still held Kagura tight as she cried into her chest, "Still, ya saved me…thanks."

--In the darkness the cacophony created by the bugs leaves all of Japan's survivors in terror--

A shot rang out, followed by another, and a third. "Ahahaha! Did you see that?" a woman called out, "I killed that bug with only three shots!" She then carefully removed the empty shells from her revolver and replaced them.

A man sitting near her spoke up, "I know you're just trying to make us forget about this shit, but you're wasting bullets. Just try to sleep, okay?"

The pair were dressed in police uniforms, and locked inside a jail cell. The corpse of the bug the woman killed was just outside the cell, with other bugs that were much less dead. The cannibalistic beasts immediately recognized their fallen sister as their next meal and were eagerly eating the corpse.

The woman watched the bugs with morbid fascination, "I know they haven't been able to get through the bars, but still…I'm afraid."

The man sighed, "I'm scared too, but we can't waste daylight sleeping, try to sleep."

The girl lay down as far from the bars as possible, closed her eyes, and tried to ignore the sounds of the bugs. Suddenly something caught her attention, "Hey, Taro!" she spoke up "Listen!"

Taro groaned and sat up, "It's just the bugs, go…" he trailed off as he had heard it too, "Gunshots!" The girl checked her firearm and then proceeded to grab a shotgun from near Taro and shoved shells in her pockets, "What the hell are you doing!?"

The girl checked the shotgun then looked to the other police officer, "There are people nearby! And they are in trouble! We have to help them, it's our duty!"

He grabbed her arm, "Its suicide to go out now!"

The girl wrenched her arm from his grasp, "I know that," she replied, "but I can't stand by and do nothing."

There was a silence between the two for what seemed like an eternity, and then Taro grabbed a flashlight and taped it to the girl's shotgun, and did the same to another, and picked it up, "It sounds like they are in the shop across the street."

The girl took aim and killed the feasting bugs, "Thanks, Taro."

The duo fought their way out of the police station killing a few other bugs that had smashed their way in. "On three," Taro said to the girl as they braced themselves for the hell on earth that lay on the other side of the doorway. "One," Taro started, "two," both officers gripped their guns tightly and prepared to dash, "three!"

They quickly made their way across the street. Their flashlights illuminating dozens of abandoned cars, the duo was lucky that their lights revealed no bugs. As they entered the shop, however, their lights shone on several bugs, some crawling about on the ground and a couple crawling across the walls.

"Shit!" Taro shouted as both officers opened fire and managed to eliminate the creatures before they were able to get to them.

"Look over there!" the girl called out as they approached the survivors.

"We have to get out of here, it's not safe!" Taro called out to them.

The group of survivors, led by a woman, rushed out to greet their saviors, but as they started out the woman gave out a yell, "Bugs!"

Wheeling around the duo opened fire on a pair of bugs rushing into the entryway while moving back towards the group of survivors. Those two were followed by a steady stream of more bugs. The motley group was doing well to hold them off, but the ammo wasn't about to last forever.

"We have to get out of here!" Taro shouted over the gunfire.

The leader of the survivors spoke up, "Do you know of a safe place?"

The policewoman answered her while she reloaded her shotgun, "The police station across the street! They can't get into the jail cells!"

The survivor's leader took charge, "We're moving, now!" she shouted as she charged, weapon blazing, toward the exit.

Inspired by her brave charge the rest of the group followed after her. All was going well until the group spilled out onto the street, where the group's lights revealed dozens of bugs crawling over and around the abandoned cars and across the walls of the police station. They all ran full on to the police station while firing at the approaching bugs, but one after one the bugs managed to reach the survivors and take their lives. Out of the nearly dozen people only four survived into the police station.

One of the survivors from the courthouse positioned himself the entrance to the police station, "I'll cover you!" he shouted while firing his weapon, "Get to the cells!"

"This is such a disaster," the leader of the survivors thought as they ran toward the cells, "I thought that shop would be safe."

As they ran into the room with the cells the group was horrified to see a group of bugs feasting on the corpses left behind by the policewoman. The women raised their weapons to fire only to be stopped by Taro, "They are distracted!" he whispered to them. He then retrieved the cell key and the group moved as silently as possible toward the nearest cell. The women kept their guns pointed at the bugs while Taro opened the cell. As it creaked open the bugs snapped to attention and almost immediately rushed at the group. The girls opened fire, "Get in!" Taro shouted. The girls complied while firing into the bugs, much to their horror one managed to grab Taro and nearly tore him in half before they shot it dead. Taro slammed the door shut trapping the girls inside, and himself out.

"No! Taro!" the policewoman shouted in anguish. The fallen police officer was about to say something when one of the downed bugs suddenly shot up and tore out Taro's neck. "You son of a bitch!" the policewoman cried out as she shot shell after shell into the beast, even after it was clearly dead.

The rest of the night the policewoman devoted herself to keeping any bugs from getting to Taro's corpse, while the leader of the survivors…the only remaining survivor, sat in the fetal position before falling into a restless sleep.

--The following morning--

As the sun shone in through the bars of the jail cell it illuminated the true horror of the sight, "Taro," the policewoman cried softly as she opened the cell door. "It's okay. I'll give you a proper funeral. I won't let you be eaten," she continued speaking to her fallen comrade. With a nearly inhuman strength she picked up the corpse and dragged it outside.

The remaining survivor stirred, after she came into consciousness she glanced around at her new surroundings. As she recalled where she was and what had happened she was overwhelmed with guilt. "They all put their faith in me, and I got them all killed. Even the police officer that tried to save us," she got up and looked around again. The cell was open, and there was no sign of the policewoman. Upon further examination she realized the corpse of the policeman was gone as well. Once again she felt guilt, "I've failed them all." She found herself wandering about and as she exited the station she was assaulted with a horrible stench. It didn't take her long to find the source; the policewoman was standing in front of a small bonfire, the burning corpse of the policeman being consumed by the flames. "It's my fault," the survivor thought to herself.

The policewoman was unaware of the survivor joining her in the makeshift funeral of the man who gave his life for theirs. "I'm so sorry Taro, all those bugs were there because of those corpses, I shouldn't have killed those bugs, I should have listened to you, I…I'm so sorry, it's all my fault," the policewoman spoke to the burning corpse, doing her best to hold back her tears.

The policewoman then felt a hand on her shoulder, "Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault. It's mine." While startled at first the policewoman welcomed the contact.

She turned to the survivor and was startled by what she saw, "Kaorin!?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh my! Tomo is that you?" the two friends recognizing each other in the light of day. It was a truly bittersweet moment, but it did shine a bit of happiness where it was really needed.

A/N: This is the first chapter in the saga. For those of you unfamiliar with metrics two meters is about six and a half feet, and a half meter about one and a half feet. I'll go ahead and apologize about Mayaa, originally I intended Mayaa to remain alive throughout the entire series. After I wrote the chapter and was reading over it, however, I discovered that while Kagura and Osaka (The scene I'm least happy with, it seemed far too short and even though I've gone back and worked on it, twice, I just can't seem to make it work. I guess it is fundamentally flawed) as well as Tomo and Kaorin went through horrible ordeals, Sakaki and Yomi got off pretty much scot-free. So I was forced to add in something to cause turmoil for the pair, and poor Mayaa was the first thing that came to mind.


	3. Baptism of Fire

A/N: This chapter is a bit on the short side, but that's because it is the only chapter to involve only one character so far (Not counting the prologue). Without further delay, here is Chapter Two: "Chiyo's Baptism of Fire."

--In the mist of the predawn hour a ship comes into a small port in Japan--

"I've finally made it," the small girl happily noted, "Japan!" Chiyo jumped off her vessel and began tying her ship to the dock. While performing the menial task she was repeatedly distracted by eerie sounds. Once she had finished tying off her boat she looked around for the source and discovered, much to her horror, that it was a giant insect feasting on the carcass of an animal just a few meters from where she stood. Unable to contain herself the shocked teenager jumped at the sight and let out a yelp. The insect immediately snapped its head up at the invasive sound and locked its gaze on the frozen girl. With the creature staring at her with ravenous intent, poor Chiyo was barely able to make her legs work as she slowly made her way toward her small vessel. The insect let out a shriek and began charging toward the small girl, this sudden motion sparking Chiyo's body into motion as she quickly jumped onto her boat. She desperately headed to the cabin where she knew she had left her gun. But no sooner did she scramble to her feet did she feel the boat lunge from the insect landing right behind her. She was able to reach the open cabin but as she grasped her handgun she was hit violently from behind, an impact so powerful it sent her through her vessel's windscreen and out onto the bow.

The searing pain was almost too much for the girl to bear; her back and shoulder were ablaze with pain. She was also vaguely aware of several serious cuts to her arms from traversing through the windshield. She struggled to a sitting position to see the beast lumbering through the windscreen. "My gun!" she thought desperately trying to figure out where it went. Chiyo quickly spotted her weapon at the edge of the bow, blocked from going overboard by the railing. She started to scramble towards the weapon when a new pain reached her as the bug sunk its claws deep into her calf. Chiyo let out a cry as she began panicking trying desperately to reach the firearm. In spite of her efforts it drew ever further away as the monster drew her towards it. Giving up on the hopes of reaching the firearm the girl turned to face her assailant. "Please," she thought, "I don't want to die!" The creature opened its mandibles, ready to rend the small girl as she prayed to whatever gods would listen to save her.

One god surely must have heard her prayer as the mist seemed to evaporate at that very moment, allowing sunlight to fall on the dueling pair. Instantly the insect released its grip on Chiyo's leg and scrambled about. The sudden and bizarre behavior of the bug had Chiyo truly puzzled as she watched the insect desperately climb once more into the cabin, only to turn and face Chiyo, and shriek angrily at her. "Why did it stop?" She found herself wondering, before her senses snapped to and she crawled painfully over to her firearm. Picking up the weapon she turned once more to the bug, still hiding inside the cabin. Chiyo raised the weapon to aim at the creature, but instead of firing she found herself wondering why the bug was now watching her from the cabin instead of attacking. "Is it afraid of me?" it didn't make any sense, but as she weighed her options she realized she had to kill the beast to unload her things from the ship.

Raising her firearm once more and fired at the creature, scoring a hit the bug let out another shriek and quickly darted from view. This both relieved and bothered Chiyo, the monster was finally gone from view, but now she needed to go hunt out the wounded beast from inside her ship. Trying to stand she used the railing of the ship of get on her feet. Wincing at the pain in her back and leg protesting being used Chiyo looked down at herself and only then did she realize how badly she had been injured. Her arms were bleeding badly, and her left calf had two deep gashes in it. "This is serious," she thought to herself, "I need to get my wounds treated." She did need to treat her wounds, but there was one very big, obstacle in her way: a very large bug. Steeling herself she walked along the rail doing her best to keep standing, always having her gun pointed in the general direction of the cabin.

After clambering over to the stern side of the boat she gazed into the open cabin. Chiyo was disgusted at the sight of the creature's blood, she was also worried, as it was nowhere in sight. "I need my medical supplies," she thought over and over as she tried to convince herself to go below deck and face that horrible creature. Limping over to the control panel she turned on the lights to illuminate below deck and immediately heard thumping from below her. No question about it, the creature was still aboard, and below deck. Feeling sick and dizzy Chiyo made her way slowly below deck, seeing nothing she began moving toward where she knew she had a first aid kit.

As she walked by a small door she froze as a thump was heard behind it. Chiyo immediately raised her gun, but was caught off guard as the door burst open, the wounded bug tackling the small girl to the ground. Without any delay or thought, the brave teenager raised the gun to the bug's thorax and shot round after round into the creature. Giving one last inhuman wail the large bug collapsed down onto her. With great effort the traumatized teenager managed to escape from the crushing carcass and reached into her belongings, retrieving the much needed first aid kit. Dizzy and feeling sick Chiyo began dressing her grave wounds, "This is really serious!" she thought.

Chiyo first tightly wrapped gauze around her leg to help stem the bleeding. After doing so she hurriedly applied antiseptic to her arms before having to decide weather or not to try and suture some of the deeper cuts. After a moments meditation Chiyo came to the conclusion that she didn't have the heart to sew her own wounds up and decided instead to wrap her arms tightly in gauze. That task complete she once again focused on the more serious injury of her leg. After removing the bandage Chiyo nearly fainted upon seeing so much blood ooze from the deep wounds. She liberally dumped the rest of her antiseptic into the wound causing waves of pain soaring through the small woman. She let out a scream that surely could have been heard for kilometers, if there was anyone around to hear it. After recovering from the searing pain Chiyo shakily applied more gauze to the wound.

Having dressed all of her wounds she hobbled around the insect's carcass and made her way, painstakingly, up the steps and back onto the deck. She sat into the captain's chair and almost immediately passed out. Chiyo reached out, turned on the ship's radio, and began speaking into the receiver, "Please, can anyone hear me? I'm badly wounded, I…I need help. Please…anyone…" Hearing no response she changed the frequency and made her plea once again upon deaf ears. Repeating this throughout the channels she quickly lost heart. Slowly she slipped into unconsciousness her last thoughts echoing in her head, "Please…help me…someone…"

--Several hours later--

Chiyo stirred to wakefulness in her chair, and was immediately overcome with searing pain. She cried out from the intense pain. After getting ahold of herself, Chiyo desperately looked about for her first aid kit only to realize it was still below deck. Chiyo began to move to get to her first aid kit, but quickly stopped as the motions caused even more pain upon the poor girl. Her small hand reached out once more for the radio, which once again only brought her even more pain. Giving up she slumped back into her chair. "It hurts so much!" she thought bitterly, "What am I going to do?" Suddenly a thought struck her that chilled her to the core. "Why didn't bugs attack me?" she wondered aloud as she desperately thought of a course of action to prevent such an attack. She steeled herself as she decided she would have to get up and barricade herself inside the ship, back where she left the body of that horrible creature.

Moving slowly she got up and made certain to place most of her bodyweight on her right leg. Cursing her luck Chiyo then slowly hobbled to the steps as she tried her best to tolerate the ache even the tinyest movement made. Once below deck, Chiyo made sure to close and lock the feeble door behind her. "It won't stop one of those…those things" she thought after locking the door. At that moment the desperation of her situation hit her, "I'm really going to die here!" she cried out. She slumped down and sat on the steps and started to cry. However it didn't take long for her physical pain to outweigh her emotional distress. She dried her tears, slowly got to her feet, and made her way to her first aid kit. Once again stepping carefully around the now rotting and stinking carcass she retrieved some pain medicine and quickly downed it. "It was so stupid of me to come here," she thought, "I should have stayed back in California where it's safe." Upon these thoughts Chiyo was reminded why she came here in the first place as she looked to the carcass of the insect she slew. "Even if I die, I have to try and figure out these things," she told herself and she shuffled around the cramped quarters looking for the proper tools to dissect the disgusting thing.

Chiyo gathered up a few rudimentary tools and painfully set about her task. "It's even bigger than I thought," she said aloud as she measured the beast. It having died in an awkward position and being too big for her to move she was unable to get an exact measurement, but still she wrote 214cm from one end to the other. She also noted that it had wings, but they appeared undersized, "No way can it fly, it's too big," she noted. She took several more measurements. Chiyo noted that the front pair of legs was significantly longer than the other four. Also she found the compound eyes to appear very large compared to that of what she envisioned a normal insect would have. The little genius also took several other measurements and observations including the apparent small size of the antennae.

Once all of the measurements were completed she set about the task of dissecting the monster. "Its exoskeleton is partially transparent, I can see most of its innards," she took note of the queer exoskeleton and made sure to record it before cracking it open and examining its innards. "I really wish I knew more about this," Chiyo lamented as she realized just how few of the innards she could identify. After studying the various parts and organs for a few minutes Chiyo decided that at this point doing an autopsy on this thing was pointless. She really didn't have the knowledge base for this. Chiyo made sure to write down that she needed to find books and study insect anatomy vigorously. "I really should have thought this through," Chiyo berated herself. Having done all she could to examine the beast, the young genius retrieved a tissue sample from one of its fleshier organs.

"Let's see if it is you that spread the virus," she talked to the corpse as she set down the sliver of tissue and went about finding a microscope. After locating one and setting it up Chiyo placed the tissue on a slide and observed it. "Nothing," she thought bitterly, "I know they brought the virus!" She turned to the dismembered corpse and thought, "Maybe it's carried elsewhere." She got up to retrieve more samples and was overcome with a coughing fit. "Oh no!" she thought, "Digging around in a corpse with my arms all cut up, idiot!" Chiyo decided she would have to continue her examination later. Putting away her instruments and data she moved once more towards the deck, she didn't make it far when she had the presence of mind to find something to use as a crutch.

Finding an old ore she grabbed it and used it as a makeshift crutch to relive some weight from her wounded leg. Chiyo then made her way to the door, unlocked it, and proceeded to the deck, where she washed all the gore from herself. Looking out over the ocean she saw the sun setting, feeling tired and a little dizzy she wondered, "Is this the last sunset I'll see?" The girl gave into another fit of coughs, "I don't want to die," she choked out. Pushing the unpleasant thoughts from her mind she made her way back below deck, closing and locking the door behind her. She moved once more to her first aid kit, where she took the time to replace her dressings and take some antibiotics. Chiyo then laid down on some boxes, and quickly gave way into slumber's embrace.

Several hours later she awoke, burning hot and sweating. She immediately sat up, regretting the quick movement that agitated her wounds. Chiyo began once again coughing, and as soon as she had her bearings decided to take her temperature. She stared angrily at the thermometer, its digital display reading 38.4 degrees. After taking more antibiotics and pain medicine she laid back down into her makeshift bed. "If I don't get help I'm going to die," she mumbled aloud, "I have to get to help." Chiyo's thoughts ran to the stacks of research she brought, none of which she could carry in her condition. "My laptop," she continued to mumble as she shifted sloppily through her supplies. Retrieving her laptop she decided to copy all of her most important research onto it, and then she would have to leave the boat and find people.

After recording her notes from her autopsy from the beast, and a few other important pieces she packed away her laptop and a few essential supplies into a duffel bag. Coughing, the teenager proceeded to grab her makeshift crutch, and swing the duffel bag onto her uninjured shoulder. Chiyo then managed to hobble up the steps and opened the door leading outside. Stepping out onto the deck it appeared to be sometime in the morning. Having no watch the little genius couldn't really tell.

She felt like shit. Chiyo was in an incredible amount of pain, making walking difficult; a process further complicated by her dizziness, disorientation, and rapidly draining energy from the illness and blood loss. Getting from the boat to the dock was no easy task. She had to first throw across her bag followed by the would-be crutch. Sitting on the railing of the boat she carefully placed her good foot on the dock, and using her injured arms and leg threw her body weight at her good foot. Her technique failed miserably as she overshot and ended up falling painfully onto her duffel bag.

Struggling to her feet she once again gathered her belongings and set off towards shore on shaky legs. With each step growing weaker the teenage girl failed to make it even twenty meters from her boat when she collapsed painfully to the ground. She then watched helplessly as her crutch skidded away from her before it teetered over the edge of the dock and into the waters below. Once again feeling despair wash over her, Chiyo began crawling despite the pain the motions caused her injured arms and leg. She didn't make it far before her movements stopped, "I can't do it," she cried softly to herself, "I'm not strong enough." Giving up on getting to shore, or even back to her vessel she merely retrieved more painkillers from her bag and a bottle of water. Rolling onto her back she struggled to sit up enough to down the medicine before collapsing to the ground. "If only I had turned out more like her, she would have made it," Chiyo mused aloud as she turned onto her side and curled into a fetal position.

A/N: A small note, Chiyo's measurement of the insect is from the tip of the mandibles down to the tip of the abdomen. A common way to measure a bug's length. Once again, for those of you unfamiliar with metrics 214cm is almost 7ft on the dot and 38.4 degrees celsius is approximately 101 fahrenheit.


	4. Breaking Point

A/N: This chapter is purely drama and character building. Personally I prefer the bits with action, but most people prefer these chapters. I do hope you enjoy.

--A midmorning sun shines down on a familiar pair of women--

Two girls could be seen walking at a brisk pace down an abandoned street. "You're sure you want this?" Yomi asked.

Sakaki had mourned the loss of her furry friend, but she needed to move on. She had to do this. "Mmm," she nodded in response.

Yomi could understand her friend wanting to move on, but it would have been much easier to bury the collar near the bomb shelter. For some reason that Yomi could not figure out Sakaki wanted to give Mayaa's collar a 'burial at sea.'

"It would make more sense," Yomi's thoughts wondered, "to bury the collar. She is just going to throw it in the ocean?"

No, Yomi had no inkling as to why her friend wanted to go to the ocean for this unpleasant task. But Sakaki was her friend, her _only_ friend in the whole world. Yomi would do anything to help her, even walk kilometers just to throw a collar into the ocean.

Arriving sometime later, the pair made their way out onto the docks. Now in disrepair and rotting, the docks were somewhat dangerous to walk on. Most of the boats that could be seen still left still floating were hopelessly waterlogged and incapable of even the tamest of journeys. After carefully treading out to the end of the dock Yomi watched as Sakaki held the collar in her outstretched hand. Sakaki struggled with herself for what seemed like an eternity, but instead of dropping the collar into the sea she brought it once more to bosom and did her best to hug the object.

"Sakaki…" Yomi called out to her, but as she approached the taller girl shook her head. Yomi looked on as Sakaki removed the nametag from the collar and pocketed it, and then she once more held the collar in her outstretched hand.

"Goodbye, Mayaa," Sakaki said softly as the collar slipped off of her hand and fell into the water. Sakaki continued to stare at the beloved object as it floated in the waves until it blurred as her eyes brimmed over with tears. She then buried her face in her hands and wept openly as she fell to her knees. Yomi quickly made her way over and once again embraced her friend. Much to Yomi's relief Sakaki didn't take long to regain her composure.

"We should head back to the shelter now, Sakaki," Yomi offered as soon as she was sure the distraught woman had made her peace with her pet's passing. Sakaki said nothing, but began to follow her friend as they began to leave from the docks. "That's rare," Yomi commented, noticing a seagull fly low overhead.

The virus didn't only affect people, many animal species were devastated and seagulls were no exception. The pair watched the bird fly to a parallel dock and land on what appeared to be a small mass. Both girls looked on in curiosity, as the mass moved to shoo away the bird.

"It's a person!" Sakaki noted.

With this realization the pair ran to the end of their dock and back down the dock the other person was on. The person was a small woman, even by Japanese standards. With red hair tied in a single ponytail, she wore an average pair of shoes, with jean shorts, and a striped T-shirt. She also sported many bandages across her arms and left leg. The two women descended upon the vulnerable form.

"Chiyo!" both girls practically shouted as the turned the injured girl onto her back.

"Sakaki…Yomi," Chiyo offered with as much energy as she could muster, "am I in the afterlife?" Sakaki quickly moved to try and get Chiyo some water.

"You're not dead yet," Yomi said doing her best to assess the situation, "It's going to be okay. We'll get you out of here." Yomi then turned to Sakaki, "Can you carry her?" she asked.

Sakaki gave an affirmative and gingerly picked up the badly injured girl, "She has a fever," Sakaki noted.

As the two were about to leave for the bomb shelter Chiyo protested, "My…My bag, I need…my research…please…the bag," the small girl trailed off.

Yomi did her best to reassure her old friend and picked up her duffel bag, "Come on Sakaki, we have to get her to safety."

--Several hours later the trio could be seen at their makeshift home--

Back at the bomb shelter Sakaki was carefully changing Chiyo's dressings. They had left the door to the shelter wide open to allow more light for Sakaki to work. Yomi was just outside of the shelter sitting on the grass next to a small fire she had built. She was eagerly deciding which canned food she should cook for them.

Chiyo let out a hiss as Sakaki was reapplying bandages to her mangled leg. "Sorry," Sakaki apologized.

Chiyo shook her head, "Its okay, Sakaki, those insects are really scary."

After Sakaki finished bandaging her leg she asked, "Are you okay?"

Chiyo struggled into a sitting position, "Not really, but I think I will be okay thanks to you." This compliment brought a blush to Sakaki's cheeks.

"Food's ready!" Yomi announced as she came into the shelter carrying two plates. She set one in Chiyo's lap and handed the other to Sakaki before returning outside to retrieve her own plate. The trio ate in relative silence.

Having finished eating it was the youngest of the three that spoke up, "Is it really okay to leave the door open?" Chiyo asked pointing to the still wide-open door.

"Hmmm," Yomi responded swallowing her mouthful of food, "It's still light out." Upon seeing Chiyo's puzzled expression Yomi asked, "Did you just get to Japan?"

Chiyo nodded, "I arrived…I'm not sure how long ago, but I was attacked by one of those insects. " Chiyo's gaze fell to her empty plate, "That's how I got hurt, I don't know why but it suddenly stopped attacking me and…and I was able to get my gun…and…"

"You killed one, good for you!" Yomi interrupted, "Let me guess, it stopped attacking when the sun started shining." Chiyo looked thoughtful for a moment before giving an affirmative.

"They hate sunlight." Sakaki offered, "We're not sure why though." Chiyo began to say something but was cut off by yet another coughing fit. Sakaki instantly moved to console the girl while Yomi looked slightly disgusted.

"Sakaki, we should take these antibiotics too," Yomi said picking up a bottle from their own medical gear, "In such close quarters we're bound to catch whatever she has."

Having given out the medicine to her friends Yomi replaced the bottle and struck up a new conversation, "So, Chiyo, why did you come to Japan? Wouldn't it have been safer for you to have stayed in California?"

Chiyo looked reprehensive, "Yes, it was stupid of me to come here. As soon as I got here I was nearly killed." She looked to her friends who were listening intently. Sighing she continued, "I received an E-mail from Tomo shortly before communications collapsed, about the insects. I knew they had started the virus. I came to find out more, I cannot explain it but I know I had to come see these creatures to save mankind." She saw Yomi stiffen at the mention of Tomo's name, "Yomi," Chiyo began, "What…What happened to Tomo?"

Yomi clenched her hands tightly in her lap doing her best to keep her emotions under control, "I…I don't know." Sakaki scooted over to Yomi and put a hand on her shoulder as Yomi continued in a listless tone, "We had a big fight and weren't talking to each other, then communications went out and the bugs came out in full force. I couldn't find her." Chiyo looked sympathetically at Yomi as she finished, "The virus took her, probably." Despite her efforts Yomi was unable to stop a few stray tears from trailing down her face.

"But, she could still be alive, right? You don't know that she's dead!" Chiyo insisted.

"Shut up!" Yomi exploded, "I looked and looked for her! She is gone! Tomo is dead! Just more fodder for the bugs!" A suffocating silence enveloped the group following the outburst. "She's dead, okay?" Yomi said as tears once more began to flow, "She is gone and we'll never see her again."

--Somewhere in Japan a policewoman sneezes--

Kaorin and Tomo sat together in silence. They had argued for some time over whose fault the carnage was, and at the current moment neither could remember who won that argument. While at first Tomo seemed to act much more mature, she quickly reverted to her old self with the drama over.

"Say Tomo," Kaorin spoke up, "Why are you wearing that stuffy police uniform."

Tomo turned to her companion, "Eh, are you serious?" Upon receiving a nod from Kaorin she continued and a high and mighty tone, "Because it's so cool! Just wearing this commands respect from anyone!"

Kaorin wasn't impressed. "Anyone that doesn't know you maybe," she muttered under her breath.

Giving Kaorin a large grin Tomo continued, "In any case it's _far_ better than those rags you're wearing." Said clothing was a simple pair of khaki shorts and T-shirt with an open vest over top of it.

"At least my clothing is practical! I bet it's hot in that fancy uniform with summer on the way," Kaorin retorted, doing her best to perturb the irritating wildcat.

"Hmph!" Tomo stood eyeing Kaorin critically, "No way, my clothes are _way_ better." And with that she turned and left.

The fuming Kaorin watched Tomo leave the cell, grabbing a shotgun on her way out. "She just left so she could win the argument," Kaorin thought bitterly. Sitting alone in the dingy cell Kaorin's thoughts were left to drift to the depressing memories of her fallen comrades. The gods truly must have hated her. All her life she had been dumped on, and now she had been responsible for the deaths of nearly a dozen people. Perhaps worse still was that fact that she was now stuck with a girl who almost certainly had to be the most irritating person left on the planet.

"I just can't win," she mumbled to herself. She decided that she was not going to be stuck by herself with Tomo, and began racking her mind for a solution. Having settled on a course of action she grabbed her weapon, a military rifle, and headed out onto the streets.

An emotionally distraught Kaorin marched across the street to the shop she and the group of survivors had barricaded themselves inside of. Much to Kaorin's chagrin as soon as she walked in Kaorin saw Tomo sitting on a counter drinking eagerly from a bottle of liquor.

"You idiot!" Kaorin berated as she snatched the bottle from Tomo and threw it behind the counter, smashing it.

"What was that for?!" Tomo shouted at Kaorin as she jumped off of the counter. Kaorin moved to throw more, seemingly random things behind the counter. "My, my," Tomo commented, "it looks like Kaorin has finally snapped."

Kaorin seemed to ignore her as she went back and forth through the store throwing more things behind the counter. Tomo took advantage of Kaorin's focus in…whatever task it was she was performing by snatching another bottle of liquor and exiting the store. Finding a seat atop a small car Tomo drank from her bottle as she watched Kaorin through the shop's windows.

"What on earth has gotten into her?" Tomo thought to herself. Staring after Kaorin, Tomo noticed her backing her way out of the store hunched over. After a moment it was clear she had a box of some sort and was carefully spilling its contents in a trail leading back into the store. "Gunpowder?!" Tomo exclaimed, "What the hell are you trying to do?" Kaorin bent down and lit the end of the trail causing the flame to rapidly enter the store. Taking cover behind the car she was sitting on the wildcat called out to Kaorin, "Why are you trying to blow up the store?!"

Kaorin finally responded to the wildcat's questions with a laugh, "I'm not blowing it up, I'm burning it down!"

Peering out from behind the car Tomo could see flames inside the store, "Well why the hell are you doing that?!"

Kaorin let out another chuckle, "You really are an idiot! It's a beacon."

Tomo looked to Kaorin and adopted a cheshire cat grin, "Oh? A beacon you say?"

"Yes, fire and smoke are obviously manmade, and can be seen for kilometers. Anyone who sees this smoke will come and join us!" Kaorin retorted.

"Ahahaha!" Tomo laughed in Kaorin's face, "You think you're so smart, but you're an idiot!"

"What was that?" Kaorin demanded, getting into Tomo's face.

Her grin never faded, "Just look at that!" Tomo said pointing off in the distance.

Kaorin followed Tomo's finger and what she saw caused the girl's demeanor to dramatically shift. "The sun's setting," Kaorin noted in a listless tone.

"Ahahaha!" Tomo continued mocking Kaorin, "Even if people did see your beacon they _can't _come!"

Kaorin's gaze fell to the ground as tears began flowing, "You're right," she said, "I'm an idiot." "It doesn't matter how hard I try. I always fail."

"Hey," Tomo started, "you're not supposed to cry."

Kaorin's gaze fell to her feet, "I got all those people killed, and even your friend, I got them all killed! You're right," she said as the tears continued to flow.

"Kaorin…" Tomo started.

"Shut up!" Kaorin cut her off, "I hate you!"

"Hmph!" Tomo scoffed, "What did I ever do to you?"

Kaorin searched for what seemed like ages for a reason to hate her. She didn't find one. "It's not the gods that hate me," she realized as she mumbled out loud, "It's true, you are right. I'm just an idiot and nothing I do ever turns out right." With that Kaorin stumbled off toward the police station.

Tomo had won. Tomo was the victor and there was no dispute. "Why do I feel so bad then?" she asked no one in particular. She stared at the burning building for a long time. It was now fully engulfed in flames. "It was a stupid idea," she assured herself. She pondered where she had crossed the line, but could not figure it out. Throwing her bottle at the burning store she debated her options. Deciding she should do something to set things right she ran into to the police station after Kaorin.

She entered the jail and what she saw horrified her: Kaorin, kneeling on the floor, had a pistol aimed at her own head. "Kaorin don't do it!" Tomo yelled at her friend.

Kaorin looked up at her with hollow eyes, her gun never leaving her own temple, "Why not? I'm just an idiot, I'm worth less alive than dead!" With that outburst Kaorin closed her eyes and steadied herself.

"Don't!" Tomo protested, "If you…If you do that you'll be killing me too! I can't make it by myself. I need you!"

"I don't care!" Kaorin shouted at Tomo, her hand now shaking.

Tomo had to do something! She couldn't let Kaorin kill herself, "Then shoot me," Tomo challenged as she outstretched her arms. "If you are really okay with leaving me to die then just kill me now!" Kaorin stared at Tomo for what seemed like forever, and then withdrew her pistol from her temple.

Tomo breathed a sigh of relief, but it didn't last long as Kaorin then raised it and pointed it at Tomo. Tomo's heart skipped a beat and her breath caught in her throat. "Kaorin," was all Tomo could think to say, terrified that Kaorin was actually going to call her bluff.

Their hearts pounding heavily in their chests the two women stared at one another as Kaorin drew back the hammer of her pistol in her trembling hands. Kaorin pulled the trigger, but with so much shaking the bullet missed Tomo.

The wildcat couldn't find her voice, and was having trouble even breathing as she watched Kaorin take a deep breath and steady herself, and her hands. Once again she took aim, this time her hands steady. "She's really going to kill me!" Tomo thought to herself as she desperately tried to think of something to put an end to the deadly situation.

This time when the shot rang out, Tomo crumpled to the ground. In shock Kaorin dropped her pistol, "What have I done?" she thought.

A/N: Originally I didn't plan on Mayaa dying. So there would have been no way for Yomi and Sakaki to save her. An OC was supposed to save her and they were to meet up with Yomi and Sakaki later (After the OC died). But thanks to Mayaa I was able to do away with that and do this instead. I like this better than the original scenerio. As for Tomo and Kaorin all is as planned. Do not fear though, everything will be resolved early in the next chapter.


	5. Storms of Conflict

--A setting sun reveals two figures walking at a brisk pace--

"We have to find shelter soon," Kagura spoke to her companion.

Staring at the slowly passing vacant vehicles through her camcorder Osaka responded, "Couldn't we just get into a car?"

Kagura shook her head, "No, and we really need to find a suitable place soon. We really don't have much light left."

Osaka stopped in her tracks, "Fire," Osaka said pointing. Following Osaka's finger Kagura found smoke rising from no more than a few blocks away. "Do ya think there are people there?" Osaka asked.

Kagura stared at the rising smoke, "I dunno, probably," she assured. Though she really wasn't sure herself, she gave it some thought, "If no one is there we could be in serious trouble, but how else can a fire start?" Kagura's thoughts raced. Having made up her mind she decided to risk it. "Let's go," she announced to Osaka as they left for the rising smoke at a brisk pace. As they made their way desperately to the rising smoke Kagura cursed poor Osaka's lack of physical prowess. "Come on Osaka, we need to hurry!" Kagura berated.

Osaka really was doing her best dragging along the rolling luggage bag and trying to keep up with the athletic girl. "Can ya give me a hand?" Osaka asked.

Giving a frustrated grunt Kagura ran over to Osaka and took the luggage from her and began once more for the smoke. But even without being burdened by the rolling luggage Osaka was still trailing behind Kagura.

"I wonder," Osaka mumbled out loud in between breaths, "how she got…ta be so strong." Fortunately for the duo with Kagura dragging the luggage along they made it to the source of the smoke with some daylight to spare. "There's no one here," Osaka noted while gazing about through her camera. They had come upon what appeared to be a burning convenience store.

Kagura was angry, she was sure this was the best route. "We have to find shelter, now" Kagura said looking around. She pointed across the street from the burning building at what looked to be a police station. "That will have to do," she said.

"But I haven't done anythin' wrong!" Osaka protested, "I don't wanna go ta jail!"

At that outburst Kagura thanked the gods. The fire did lead them to a good shelter. A jail cell could easily keep out bugs. "You're not in trouble Osaka," Kagura reassured, "but the jail cells are sturdy, we'd be safe from bugs in there!"

Osaka reclaimed the rolling luggage as the two made their way into the police station. No sooner did they cross the threshold into the building did they hear a gunshot ring out from deeper inside. Kagura dashed after the sound leaving Osaka to follow her. As she rounded a corner Kagura saw a woman facing away from her, no further than one meter from her. At that very same moment another shot rang out, and to Kagura's horror that woman fell to the ground.

Kagura looked out and saw another woman with a look of shock on her face drop a pistol, "I know her!" Kagura's mind screamed.

As this woman came to her senses she immediately scrambled for her abandoned pistol. Instincts kicking into action Kagura instantly began dashing towards the familiar figure, and, as she raised the pistol, managed to tackle her to the ground.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Kagura shouted at the unnamed figure of her past.

"I…I don't know!" the desperate woman cried out.

"Oh! Hey Tomo, are ya okay?" it was Osaka, who was still staring through her camcorder.

The woman who had been shot was now sitting up on her own. "It hurts…It hurts," the girl whined as she clutched her chest.

Still pinning her opponent to the ground Kagura looked to her old friend, "Tomo," she breathed.

The girl under Kagura struggled to see Tomo, "Tomo are you okay?!" she desperately shouted.

"I…I think my vest stopped it, but it hurts!" Tomo whined, "It really hurts!"

With that the girl under Kagura let out a chuckle, "Her clothes really were superior," she thought.

"Ah, Kaorin! You're here too." Osaka noted.

"Kaorin!?" Kagura's thoughts raced, "Why would Kaorin shoot Tomo!?"

The drama was brought to an abrupt end when the frightening sounds of the bugs stirring to life descended upon the group. "We need to get into the cells!" Kaorin yelled. Kagura wasn't sure if she was ready to let her up, but she didn't have much choice.

As soon as Kagura let her up she grabbed the cell keys from Tomo's belt and led the group to the cells. Draping one of Tomo's arms around her shoulders Kagura had to help Tomo into the cell. No sooner did the group get safely into the cell did two bugs come crashing into the room. Kagura instantly dropped Tomo and grabbed her rifle, firing at the bugs.

Once the two bugs collapsed to the ground and Kagura stopped firing Kaorin spoke up, "Don't waste your bullets, bugs always get in. They can't get into the cells, just stay away from the bars."

Kagura glared at Kaorin with venom in her eyes, "Care to tell us just what the hell you were doing shooting Tomo?"

Kaorin's gaze fell to her feet, "It's a long story, is it okay if we don't talk about it?"

Kagura stormed over and picked Kaorin up by her collar, "You tried to kill Tomo! You're going to talk about it if I have to beat it out of you!" Having nothing left to say she roughly threw Kaorin back to the ground.

Her gaze never leaving her feet Kaorin spoke, "I was going to kill myself, but Tomo said that she couldn't make it on her own." Taking a deep breath to steady herself she continued, "She said if I was really willing to let her die I should go ahead and kill her…so I did…sort of."

Osaka was recording the entire affair as Kagura grabbed one of her side arms and thrust it at Kaorin. "If you wanna kill yourself fine, but me and Osaka are here! We'll take care of Tomo, so you leave us out of it." Kagura told her bitterly.

Kaorin didn't make a motion for Kagura's weapon, "I don't want to."

Kagura replaced her side arm and then abruptly punched Kaorin in the face, sending her to the ground. "You were sure enough you wanted to kill yourself that you tried to kill Tomo, but now you are too cowardly!?" Kagura shouted at the downed woman.

"I…I don't ask you to try to understand," Kaorin said softly. Enraged Kagura kicked the downed Kaorin, and was getting ready to do so again when she was stopped by a shout.

"Stop it!" It was Tomo, who had been trying to relieve her pain and patch up her bruised chest. "Leave her alone Kagura, please," Tomo begged.

Kagura looked from Tomo and back to Kaorin and huffed, "Fine." The conflict ended Kagura swallowed her pride and doubts and helped Kaorin to her feet. "You're the worst," Kagura said low enough that only Kaorin could hear her.

Stuck together for the night, the four girls ended up sitting shoulder to shoulder against the far wall. It was a very frightening experience for Kagura and Osaka, there being several bugs on the other side of the jail cell's bars. Despite her fears it didn't take long for Osaka to fall asleep on Kagura's shoulder.

The night was spent in relative silence; Kagura still fuming that Kaorin had tried to kill her old high school friend, Kaorin feeling even guiltier than before, Osaka being out cold, and Tomo trying to ignore the pain that breathing caused.

The night was long for Kagura and she was glad when morning came. Much to her surprise the insects didn't leave, but stayed just outside the bars, eyeing the women with ravenous intent. Shortly after dawn Kaorin and Tomo also stirred, Tomo whining about her chest as soon as she awoke.

"What do we do about those," Kagura asked Tomo, pointing to the bugs.

"You really have to ask?" Tomo mocked pointing to the gun in Kagura's lap. With a grunt Kagura moved the still sleeping Osaka off of her, raised her rifle, and shot and killed the bugs.

"Uwahh!" Osaka screamed, waking up to the gunfire. The dazed girl immediately grabbed her camcorder and turned it on, before bringing it to her face and then looking out to the now-dead bugs. "What happened?" she asked.

"I had to kill the bugs so we could get out," Kagura said while Kaorin unlocked and opened the cell door.

"There are probably more bugs hiding in the station, be careful," Kaorin warned while holding the door open for her friends.

Tomo and Osaka opted to stay inside the cell, Tomo animatedly telling a fascinated Osaka about her vest in a twisted account of what really happened. Kagura made her way out of the cell, and took the time to shove Kaorin as she walked by.

No one seemed to notice as Kaorin pulled herself up off of the floor, "I was just trying to be nice!" she shouted as she climbed to her feet.

"How noble," Kagura mocked, turning to face Kaorin, "You expect me to thank you after you tried to kill Tomo?!" The commotion got the attention of Tomo and Osaka, the latter turning to tape the event.

"But I didn't kill her!" Kaorin retorted, "She's going to be just fine. Tomo forgives me! Why can't you?"

Kagura continued to glare angrily at Kaorin, "You…" she said pointing at Kaorin, "You were fully ready to kill her, to kill your 'friend!' And just because you didn't actually kill her that somehow makes everything okay?!"

Kaorin looked to the floor, "But I didn't kill her. No harm no foul, right?"

Tomo spoke up, taking Kaorin's side, "Yeah, she didn't actually kill anyone."

"Unlike you," Osaka joined in.

A pin drop could have been heard over the silence that enveloped the group as Kaorin and Tomo looked from a shocked and angry looking Kagura to the space cadet.

"Kagura…Kagura killed someone?" Tomo spoke up.

"Yeah," Osaka offered as she began to dig through her and Kagura's bags, "I got it on video here somewhere."

"You hypocrite!" Kaorin screamed at Kagura.

The tomboy looked to the stares of her friends before trying to find something to say, "I…I just…" Finding nothing to say she instead turned and fled from the group.

"Here it is!" Osaka exclaimed, holding up a memory card.

"Why…Why did Kagura kill someone?" Tomo asked.

"I can't believe her!" Kaorin shouted emotionally. "Trying so hard to make me seem like a terrible person when she actually killed someone."

"But Kagura's a hero," Osaka retorted as she fast-forwarded through the video to the part where they came across that man. The two girls watched in morbid fascination at the video Osaka showed them. "See?" Osaka said as it came to the part where Osaka was taping the corpse of the man, "Kagura saved me from him."

Tomo got slowly to her feet and made her way out of the cell, "I'm gonna go make sure she's okay."

Kaorin let out a huff, "She's still a hypocrite!"

Tomo found Kagura out on the street, curled up against a car as she cried into her knees. Tomo sat down next to Kagura, "Hey, Osaka showed us that tape." Getting no response Tomo sighed. She really wasn't any good at this sort of thing; it actually went against her very nature. "You did what you had to do." Tomo reassured, putting an arm around Kagura's shoulders.

"I am a hypocrite." Kagura said between sobs.

"But you couldn't just have let that guy have his way with Osaka!" Tomo protested, "You had no choice but to kill him."

Kagura stopped to wipe her face before resuming her previous position, though with much fewer sobs. "It still makes me a murderer." Kagura said softly.

"You had to do it," Tomo offered, "That guy was no better than a bug, maybe even worse than a bug." Tomo and Kagura sat in silence for awhile before Tomo once more spoke up, "It doesn't matter if it was a human or a bug, you saved Osaka and that's all that really matters. You did the right thing Kagura."

Finally looking up Kagura asked, "Do you really think so?"

Tomo nodded, "I would have done the same thing, only _I_ would have killed him with just one shot!" she boasted.

Kagura let out a little chuckle, "You gonna arrest me?"

Having watched Tomo set out after Kagura, Kaorin was fuming. "You're on my side, right Osaka?"

The girl in question had just put away the memory stick and inserted a fresh one into her camera. Turning it on and, as always, bringing it to her face, Osaka looked to Kaorin, "We need ta stop fighting an' get along." Osaka got up and continued, "We need ta work together an' be friends if we're gonna kill tha insect queen."

Kaorin eyed her skeptically, "We don't need to kill anything! We just need to survive!"

Osaka shook her head, "We ain't gonna survive if ya'll keep fighting each other. We gotta work together or we're all gonna be bug food."

Kaorin sighed, "Maybe, but still…"

"But nothin'!" Osaka interrupted, "Even I know that four is better than two, but only if they're workin' together."

Kaorin gave up, "I guess I should apologize to them huh?" Osaka's response was a simple nod. Kaorin couldn't help but muse, "Osaka is the only one talking sense," she thought, "it really is the apocalypse."

As they exited the station the duo came upon the sight of Tomo helping a red-eyed Kagura to her feet. Osaka watched through her camera as Kaorin marched up to Kagura and extended her hand.

"I'm sorry! I've been acting really stupid the past couple days, but Osaka said we need to get along and she's right."

Kagura contemplated the sight before her. Kaorin nearly killed Tomo, but she herself actually killed someone. Deciding she could trust Kaorin for now she took her hand. Through grit teeth Kagura shook Kaorin's hand, "Truce."

Kaorin then turned to Tomo, "I know nothing I can say can make up for what I've done, but…well I'm sorry."

Tomo shook it off, "It's nothing! It was actually pretty cool getting shot."

Osaka spoke up, "So now that we're all getting along are we gonna go kill tha insect queen?"

"No, Osaka," Kaorin said, "but we do need some sort of long term goal."

"A goal?" Kagura asked.

Kaorin nodded, "The group…the group that was with me…" she trailed off.

Tomo put a hand on Kaorin's shoulder, "Its okay," she reassured her friend.

Kaorin continued, "We wanted to try and kill all the bugs, make them extinct…instead of us."

"Ah!" Osaka spoke up, "So we _are_ gonna kill tha insect queen!" The group breathed a collective sigh.

"Osaka," Kaorin spoke once more, "there is no 'insect queen.'"

"Well why not?" Tomo spoke up, "They are bugs, and don't bugs have queens?"

"Hmph!" Kaorin scoffed, "Bugs that have queens always work together! I've never seen a bug dragging food away to a nest. The things just eat it all for themselves."

"Like that makes things easier," Kagura said, "If there is no queen then we have to kill every single bug."

"How do we do that?" Osaka and Tomo asked at the same time.

"Eh?" Kagura was unnerved at her friends turning to her, "I dunno, ask Kaorin, she's the one with all the ideas."

"Maybe we shouldn't try to kill them," Kaorin offered, "We don't have the manpower to drive them out."

Tomo, tired of standing, decided to sit on the hood of an abandoned car, "Then what should we do?" she asked, legs kicking freely as she looked to the skies.

"We should run away," Kaorin said seriously, "They can't fly, and probably can't swim either. Let's just leave Japan."

Tomo's legs stopped kicking as she stared into the skies. "Let's get inside!" Tomo suddenly blurted out, pointing into the sky. The others looked up to see thunderclouds rolling in.

"Hurry up!" Kagura ordered, "We need to get inside!" The rain started coming down as the girls ran inside. With the rain came the familiar sounds of the bugs stirring to life.

Once inside the girls quickly piled into their familiar jail cell as Tomo slammed it shut and fiddled with the lock. Before she could finish locking the cell an unseen bug dropped from the ceiling and crashed into the cell door. The impact sent Tomo violently crashing into Osaka, and the duo painfully into the far wall. As the bug clambered through the now wide-open cell door it met a hail of gunfire from both Kagura and Kaorin. Although the immediate threat neutralized, their situation was dire. More bugs began entering the room as Kaorin and Kagura worked desperately to move the insect's carcass out from the cell door entrance. However the carcass proved to be too hefty for the duo to move. Giving up on trying moving the large carcass, Kaorin quickly stopped pushing, stepped back, and began firing into the oncoming horde. Her gunshots were soon aided by Tomo who had recovered from her ordeal.

"This is bad!" Kagura grunted as she still tried to move the bug's carcass out of the way. "It's not working!" Kagura shouted as she abandoned trying to move the hefty beast and aided her friends in shooting down the still entering bugs.

"Let's get into the other cell!" Kaorin offered while still shooting the beasts.

"Osaka! Osaka wake up!" Kaorin and Kagura turned to Tomo who was trying to get an unconscious Osaka to stir.

"We can't leave her." Kagura said while reloading her rifle.

Kaorin suddenly shouted, "Move the bug, now!"

Both Kagura and Tomo stopped their actions and assessed the situation. No more bugs were entering the room, but there was no telling how long the lull would last. Springing to her feet Tomo joined Kaorin and Kagura as they managed to push the bug's corpse completely out of the cell. This time Tomo was able to close and lock the door.

Their safety assured, the three girls descended upon Osaka. While she was still breathing and didn't appear to be bleeding, she did not stir. Retrieving a bottle of water Tomo poured it over the unconscious Osaka, much to Kaorin's chagrin.

"That's not going to help!" she scolded.

Tomo huffed, "What will help then?"

Looking once more to Osaka, Kaorin sighed, "She's breathing on her own. She will probably wake up on her own eventually."

Kagura, for her part, had retrieved Osaka's camcorder and gingerly set it next to the unconscious girl. "She is breathing now, but what if she stopped?" Kagura worriedly asked.

Tomo scoffed, "I'm not giving her mouth-to-mouth!"

"Shut up both of you," Kaorin warned, "I'll keep an eye on her and make sure nothing happens."

Kagura stared sadly at Osaka's still form, "We're just supposed to wait and hope for the best?"

Kaorin nodded, "I don't think there is anything else we can do for her," she said as she carefully watched Osaka's chest rise and fall.

The three girls sat near their fallen friend. Kaorin was carefully watching Osaka while Tomo and Kagura stared on at the bugs cannibalizing the corpses of the downed bugs. It wasn't long before there was naught a trace of the dead bugs left.

"This sucks," Tomo whined, "We're going to be stuck in here all day."

"So," Kagura started as she continued staring at the bugs, "What are we going to do all day?"

Having been given a green light Tomo pulled out her revolver, "We could have target practice!" she exclaimed.

"No you're not," Kaorin chided, "You don't need to be wasting ammunition."

Kagura decided to look through her and Osaka's belonging for something to occupy their attention. "Nothing," she sighed, "do you guys have anything?"

After glancing around the cell Tomo shook her head, "Not really, and Kaorin only had her gun when she showed up. So I know she doesn't have anything."

Kagura looked to Tomo, "When she showed up?" she asked.

"Yeah," Tomo replied, "Taro and I ran into her a couple of nights ago."

Kagura recognized Taro as Tomo's partner, "What happened to Taro?" With that both Kaorin and Tomo looked to the ground.

"Taro died because of me," Kaorin said, still feeling guilty about that night.

"No," Tomo countered, "Taro died to save us!"

"I'm sorry," Kagura offered, "Did Yomi die too?"

Tomo pulled her knees to her chest and nodded. "Yeah, probably," She said sadly.

Kagura cocked an eyebrow, "Probably?" she asked, "You don't know?"

Tomo shook her head, "We got into a fight, so we weren't talking. One thing led to another and so I don't really know what happened to her."

With that Tomo rested her head against her knees. "I know how you feel," Kaorin offered, "I don't know what happened to Chihiro either."

"Did you have a fight with her too?" Tomo asked, her face still buried in her knees and straining to keep her voice steady.

"We didn't have a fight," Kaorin responded. "Chihiro had a job working for the government and sometimes I wouldn't hear from her for weeks at a time. It didn't seem strange at all that I couldn't contact her, but now…" Kaorin sighed and placed a hand on Osaka's chest, making sure she was still breathing.

Kagura had effectively put her friends in a bad way. She felt guilty about drudging up old wounds. "I guess we're lucky," Kagura mentioned, "me and Osaka." "We've had each other this whole time. I guess it helped that we were roommates."

"Yeah," Kaorin said with a hint of sarcasm, "even you two couldn't fall out of contact living in the same apartment."

"I dunno about that," Osaka spoke up, "Kagura would go out a lot and forget her cell phone."

"Osaka!" all three girls shouted simultaneously, happy their friend had awoken.

"Not so loud," the spacey girl complained, "my head really hurts."

Kagura got up and handed Osaka her camcorder. "Sorry, we're just glad you're okay!" Kagura apologized.

Turning it on and once again looking through it Osaka looked at the horde just outside their cell. "Did ya decide what we're gonna do?"

Tomo and Kagura looked to her quizzically and Kaorin answered her, "No, but I think we should probably leave Japan."

"Leave?" Kagura said with disdain, "I don't like the idea of just giving up and running away, we should stay and fight! We need to take back Japan from these overgrown cockroaches!"

"It's suicide!" Kaorin challenged, "We should be thinking how best to survive. We don't need to be worrying about stupid things like pride." Sighing she continued, "Japan doesn't even exist anymore, it stopped existing when everyone died. Now this place is just a breeding ground for those…those _things_."

"It's safe here," Tomo mentioned, "Here in these cells. How do you know there aren't bugs everywhere on earth? And how do you know they can't swim or fly to spread elsewhere?"

Kaorin wasn't completely sure, but she had a fairly good idea. "I've never heard of a bug anywhere else. And have any of you seen one swim or fly?"

"I haven't," Osaka said in a plain tone, "But that don't mean that they can't do it, we just never saw it."

"All of you…" Kaorin started, "All of you would rather stay here than to get away?"

"This is my home, _our_ home," Kagura spoke again, "I'm not gonna abandon it to these ugly things." She emphasized her words by pointing at the insects, "I'm ready to fight and die to reclaim our home."

And the other girls agreed with her. Kaorin had, once more, lost.

Kaorin didn't want to stay, to die, but more than that she didn't want to be alone. "So how do we kill them all?" she asked.

"We get more people and we shoot every last one!" Kagura exclaimed as Tomo gave a cheer.

A/N: One more advantage for the bugs, rain. No mention of Sakaki, Yomi, or Chiyo in this chapter, but it is already plenty long enough, the longest so far if I'm not mistaken. Originally this chapter was going to end on another cliffhanger, but instead I changed it and instead gave a few insights into the past, and gave a set course to their objectives.


	6. Welcome to My Parlor

--A dreary rainfall enveloped all of Tokyo, its streets crawling with bugs--

On one particular street a group of several bugs were scraping around an abandoned car, trying their damnedest to get in. Inside laid the dismembered corpse of a bug. It was a feast for the first bug to smash its way in. As one bug crawled onto the roof of the decrepit vehicle its head snapped back and it gave a horrible shriek. A single, large hole could be seen in its head. Mere seconds later another hole tore it way through the creature's thorax and it fell dead upon the car's roof. No sooner had it collapsed dead did the other bugs begin to crack away at its exoskeleton and gorge themselves on their fallen comrade. One by one the bugs fell, unaware of their unseen assailant. Gradually more and more bugs showed up to eat the ever growing pile of corpses.

A block away a figure worked the bolt action of a suppressed sniper rifle, took aim, and shot yet another bug dead. The figure sat in an abandoned apartment, the doors and windows reinforced with sheets of steel to guard against the bugs. Across the room several boxes of supplies and many guns could be seen up against the walls, in corners, sitting on the floor, and on top of furniture. The room was well lit by several battery powered lamps. The mysterious figure was clearly a female with short cut hair. This girl grinned as she took aim and shot another bug dead. After working the bolt action the woman fumbled around on her person. "Welcome to my parlor," she mused aloud as she retrieved the object she sought. About the size of a hairbrush handle she clicked the top open revealing a bright red button. Peering once more through her rifle's telescopic sight she pressed the button. With a violent explosion the car the bugs had gathered around vaporized, along with any nearby insects.

The sight brought another smile to the woman's face as she withdrew her rifle from the window. Sliding an attached piece of steel into place and locking it, she effectively sealed the window from any intrusion. She then reloaded the rifle, shouldered it, and removed her ear protection. Walking across the room she picked up an automatic rifle and put its strap around her shoulder. The woman then picked up an awkward looking helmet, having a flashlight duct taped to each side. She donned the helmet and then turned on each of its flashlights before turning on the light mounted on her rifle. Then she turned out all the electric lamps in the room. With that she made her way to the armored door and prepared herself. She slowly undid its fastenings, flung the door open, and then took a step back.

Finding no bug coming in after her she carefully moved to the threshold and looked down both sides of the hall. Finding no threat then ran to the end of the hallway and they peered down each side of the following corridor. She then stepped into the hall and made her way swiftly to the end of the corridor. Carefully peering around the corner she saw three bugs, and they saw her. The woman stepped fully into the next hall with her gun blazing. None of the three bugs ever got close enough to even start to pose a threat. But what happened next terrified her as she heard a bug close behind her. Whirling around she found a bug was already upon her! With nearly inhuman speed she was able to shoot the bug just before it could deliver its fatal bite. As the insect fell to the ground the woman noticed two more bugs coming at her. She raised her rifle and shot at the bugs. Nothing happened. Cursing her luck she dropped her rifle, letting it swing freely by its strap. The woman then quickly produced two fully automatic pistols and easily mowed down the two bugs. After reloading her ammo-hungry pistols the woman put them away and moved to reload her rifle. "Damned bugs," the lady spoke to the corpses, "I'll show you who is really at the top of the food chain!" Her rifle ready once more the woman set off for her destination.

Quickly dashing through the hallways she was able to easily kill the rest of the insects she encountered. She eventually stopped in front of a door very similar to most of the rest, fortified with metal scraps and locked with makeshift levers. She hastily opened the door and scanned a room that was also nearly identical to the previous. After closing and locking the heavy door the woman carefully reloaded her rifle, turned off its light, and set it next to the door. That task finished she moved to turn on the lamps of this room and removed and turned off her cap. She then removed her sniper rifle from her back and replaced her ear protection. Moving over to one of the windows she opened it and took aim through her scope, only to have everything go black. "Shit!" she cursed out loud as she dropped the rifle and jumped back, barely escaping a lethal bite from an insect that was crawling on the outside of the building. She quickly produced a revolver and shot the insect twice before it dropped and fell to the ground, some four stories below. "Idiot," the woman berated herself. After replacing the spent rounds she leaned out the window and scanned the rest of the face of the building for more bugs. She found none. The girl then looked down she noticed a couple of bugs that had already discovered the corpse of the bug she had just killed. Seizing the opportunity she retrieved a grenade, pulled the pin, and simply dropped it.

Satisfied with her work she leaned back inside the building, picked up her sniper rifle, and grabbed a nearby chair. The woman then sat down, took aim through her rifle's scope, and once more began to shoot bugs dead. This window offered her a better perspective. Being at the corner of the building she could aim far down a couple of streets. After exhausting the bullets in the gun she casually reached over and opened the top drawer of a dresser. Its contents: box after box of ammunition for her rifle. Grabbing a box she reloaded the gun and began once more to kill bug after bug. "Today is going to be a great day," she smiled to herself as she took aim and shot her rifle once more.

--In a familiar bomb shelter life stirs--

In the darkness Yomi was once again unlatching the heavy locks on their shelter's door, but suddenly stopped. With a sigh she began relocking the door. Yomi fumed, "Looks like we're going to be stuck in here for awhile," she said.

"What? Why?" Chiyo asked.

"It's raining," Yomi replied as Sakaki shuffled about trying to get comfortable in the cramped quarters.

The genius girl sighed, "I don't understand," Chiyo said.

Now comfortable Sakaki spoke up, "Bugs come out when it rains," Sakaki stated, "I hope the rain stops soon."

Yomi took a seat next to Sakaki. "How are you feeling Chiyo?" Yomi asked the teenager.

"It doesn't hurt much," the genius girl replied.

It had been almost two weeks since they found Chiyo on the docks, her wounds were healing up nicely and the group had gotten over the illness she brought. Rummaging about in the darkness, Yomi found the familiar object of a small electric lamp. Turning it on the room was bathed in a dim light.

"So the insects really come out when it rains, even in the middle of the day?" Chiyo asked as she fiddled with some of her bandages.

"Yeah," Yomi replied, once again taking a seat next to Sakaki, "the rain blocks the sun out."

Chiyo looked thoughtful for a moment, "Do you know why they hate the sunlight?" Chiyo questioned.

"We don't," Sakaki said, her hand absentmindedly toying with her new necklace, a leather choker with a small tag attached. The very same tag she had previously removed from Mayaa's collar.

"Do you have any ideas, Chiyo?" Yomi asked, "They seem to really hate light, but it doesn't look like it actually hurts them."

Chiyo retrieved her laptop and turned it on, "I did an autopsy on the insect I killed," she said as she stared at the computer's screen.

"Maybe there is something in here that would give us a hint," Chiyo continued as she fidgeted with her laptop. Sakaki paled at the thought of little Chiyo dissecting one of those horrible creatures. The two girls remained silent while Chiyo toyed with her laptop. For the longest time the only sounds that could be heard were that of Chiyo's keyboard.

"You really need to look it up?" Yomi questioned, "It was less than two weeks ago, and I would think that dissecting one of those would be a lasting memory."

Chiyo shirked away from her stare, "I was pretty out of it," she admitted. "Ah! Here it is!" Chiyo announced as she opened the file. Quickly glancing over it she gave a sigh, "Looks like I didn't find anything out of the ordinary when I did the autopsy, at least nothing to indicate why they hate light." The group breathed a collective sigh, if the genius Chiyo couldn't figure out these things no one left on this planet could.

Sakaki came up with an idea. "There are other animals that don't like light," Sakaki offered.

Yomi shook her head, "But there aren't any that flee from sunlight," Yomi retorted.

"Maybe it's their exoskeleton," Chiyo mused, "they're transparent. Maybe the ultraviolet radiation causes some sort of damage to their organs." The genius offered as she closed her laptop.

Sakaki thought about the exoskeletons for a minute. "They remind me of bugs in caves, where there is no light," Sakaki said.

Yomi agreed with her, "Maybe light is just foreign to them, and they are frightened of it."

Chiyo had a hard time swallowing that idea. She looked to her mangled leg, "No," she said, "just being afraid of it wouldn't make them give up a meal so easily. It must hurt them somehow."

Sakaki spoke once more, "They have eyes," she mentioned, "surely light isn't completely foreign to them. Maybe the sunlight is too bright and they cannot see."

That was something Chiyo could agree on, "I suppose it could interfere with their senses. They seem to have abnormally big eyes. What do you think Yomi?"

Yomi just shook her head, "I don't think it really matters," she said, "The only thing that matters is sunlight is the one thing we have on our side against those things."

Once again silence prevailed as the group sat in their cramped quarters. Putting her laptop away Chiyo let out a sigh, "Do you think the rain has stopped?"

"Probably not," Yomi replied as she shifted into a more comfortable position. Sakaki fumbled through some of their belongings before finding the object she sought. Revealing a deck of cards Sakaki began shuffling the deck. "American cards, huh?" Yomi mused, "Looks like Chiyo has the advantage here."

"Sorry," Sakaki said while dealing the cards to her friends, "We don't have any hanafuda."

"Actually, these cards are European, not American," Chiyo stated matter-of-factly as she stared at her hand.

"How was America?" Sakaki asked.

Chiyo looked thoughtful a moment, "Do you mean before or after the outbreak?" Noticing Sakaki look a little saddened Chiyo gave an apology.

"It must have been nice though," Yomi spoke up, "not having to worry about bugs."

"I guess so," Chiyo replied as she handed her cards back to Sakaki. "We'd formed a little community. A lot of people were working on a vaccine to the virus," Chiyo recalled.

Sakaki once again dealt out the cards to her friends. "A vaccine?" she asked.

"Yeah," Chiyo said with a nod.

"Why would you make a vaccine? Isn't everyone that's left immune?" Sakaki inquired.

"Newborns aren't," Chiyo said sadly.

As Chiyo was handing her cards back to Sakaki she accidently dropped a couple. She bent down and picked them up, noticing a small film of water on the floor, "Water?"

Noticing the anomaly Sakaki and Yomi quickly tried to find the leak. "A leak in here could be serious," Yomi warned as they shuffled about.

Moving a box of supplies aside Sakaki found the leak, a large bulge in the wall with a crack in the center. It was allowing a trickle of water into their shelter. "It's here," Sakaki said before she let out a yelp. The wall had burst open allowing a steady stream of water in.

"Damn!" Yomi yelled as she scrambled next to Sakaki, "We've got to seal up this leak!"

Chiyo, who had grabbed her laptop and was holding it safely above the water spoke up, "It's no good. The water is rising too quickly! We need to get out!"

"There are bugs outside," Yomi breathed, trying desperately to find a way out of this situation.

As the water continued to rush in the wall further deteriorated and collapsed inward, nearly crushing Chiyo. "The whole place is going to collapse!" Chiyo exclaimed.

Having made up her mind Sakaki grabbed her now wet pack and picked up Chiyo bridal style and began making for the shelter's heavy door. Cursing again Yomi followed after, also grabbing her pack and then drawing her pistol. The water still rising the room was half filled with mud, water, and rubble as Yomi worked on unlocking the door.

"Here," Sakaki said as she set Chiyo down on the steps and handed Chiyo her pistol.

"Let's go!" Yomi shouted as she burst open the door.

Yomi leapt from their shelter and quickly scanned the area. It was still raining, but there were no bugs in sight. "We need to hurry and move," Yomi ordered as Sakaki, once again carrying Chiyo, stepped out of their flooded shelter. Chiyo had her laptop clutched in her left arm and had Sakaki's pistol in her right hand. "Should we try to make shelter in the house or take the car?" Yomi asked pointing to the nearest house.

"Getting a car started would be a problem," Chiyo said.

"We have the key," was Sakaki's simple reply.

Mulling over their options as they made their way to the nearby structure Yomi came to a decision, "Let's try the house." Once they arrived on the front step Yomi swiftly opened the door and immediately began firing into the house. After a few shots Yomi closed the door and was nearly knocked off her feet by an impact on the opposite side. "Let's get the car!" Yomi cried as she scrambled toward the building's garage. They had made it to the garage and Yomi was opening the garage door when the house's front door burst open, a bug on top of it. Giving a roar the bug charged, but was cut down before it made even a few steps. It was shot dead by none other than little Chiyo.

The group darted into the garage, Yomi killing a single bug that had taken up residence there. Yomi then scrambled around to the car door and opened it. She then got into the driver's seat and retrieved the keys from the glove compartment as Sakaki placed Chiyo in the backseat before taking her place in the passenger's seat. Turning the key the engine struggled to come to life, but failed miserably. Trying time and again she cursed their luck.

"A bug!" Sakaki shouted as she pointed to the insect. It was just a few meters from the car, staring at the three women.

Ever more desperate Yomi turned the key, "Please start," she prayed.

With a roar the engine finally came to life as Yomi quickly put it in gear, stomped on the gas, and hit the large beast. The impact threw them all around the car, quite a painful experience for the still injured Chiyo.

"Seatbelt," the genius muttered as the group clicked their respective seatbelts into place. Once more taking off, the car headed out into the streets.

Navigating the abandoned streets was a very hazardous task, made more difficult by the steady rainfall and slick streets. Abandoned cars and other debris often made many streets completely impassible. The bugs were another hazard. They were big enough that an impact at speed could easily total the car. Furthermore, being a noisy thing, the car attracted the attention of any nearby bugs, and some even chased after it.

Yomi's wild driving, while necessary, trudged up old memories for the terrorized teen. "W…Where are we going…going to go?" Chiyo asked from the backseat as she checked over her wounds.

"I…I don't know," Yomi said breathlessly as she did her best to keep the car moving.

"A safe place," Sakaki offered, "A bank maybe?" Chiyo shook her head, "Getting a…Getting a vault open and being able to…to close it again would be impossible," the genius managed to choke out while suppressing her screams.

The path ahead being totally blocked off Yomi had to quickly prepare herself. "The ocean!" Yomi practically screamed as she forced the vehicle to do a screeching 180 degree turn and back the way they came, "They cannot fly or swim, it's…" Yomi's speech was cut short by a bug jumping in the way of the vehicle. The car hit the large insect, teetered up onto two wheels, and flopped over onto its side before grinding to a halt.

The group quickly recovered from the crash, and tried to make their way out from the wreckage. Yomi began trying to kick out the windshield while Chiyo scrambled about grabbing her laptop and looking for Sakaki's pistol. Instead of being kicked out, the windshield burst inward as a bug snapped at the girls inside. Yomi quickly put an end to the bug with her pistol and crawled out, followed by Sakaki and Chiyo. In the cold rain bugs began to converge on them. Yomi shot round after round at the nearest insects.

Quickly exhausting her ammunition Yomi turned to Sakaki who, once more, was carrying Chiyo, "Where's your gun?!" she frantically asked.

"In the car, I couldn't find it," Chiyo answered her.

Yomi pulled her knife from its sheath, "Sakaki, try to find a place to hide inside one of these buildings, I'll try to distract them," the bespectacled girl ordered.

"Yomi," both girls breathed with heavy hearts.

"Go!" Yomi shouted as a bug began to descend upon her. "So this is the end?" Yomi thought as the bug got dangerously close and opened its mandibles. As it lunged to attack a shot rang out and the bug staggered, abandoned its attack, and fled.

Sakaki stopped running at the sound of the gunshot and turned around. More and more shots rang out, defending the three unarmed girls from the lethal bugs.

"Look!" Chiyo shouted as she pointed to a fourth story window.

Each time a shot rang out a muzzle flash could be seen from that window. The barrel of the gun shot out of the window as the person inside leaned out and motioned for the girls to come. The house was over a block away, and the streets were crawling with bugs. But it was the girls' only hope so they began toward the building. Holding out a small object the figure in the window motioned once more at the trio. Unable to decipher the motions the girls were insanely frightened by a sudden explosion halfway between them and the building. But so too were the insects afraid of the sudden blast and they all scattered away giving the girls a clear shot to the building. Running with all their might Yomi and Sakaki, still carrying Chiyo, made it to the apartment building without further incident.

"Wait there!" the woman shouted as she disappeared inside the window. Reappearing with two weapons she yelled out, "Catch!" as she threw a shotgun and an automatic rifle down to the girls. She disappeared once more before reappearing and throwing down ammunition hastily wrapped in cloth. "I'll meet you in the lobby!" she shouted before disappearing back into the structure, this time the window was covered by a thick metal sheet.

Arming themselves Chiyo took the rifle while Yomi took the shotgun. Both weapons had flashlights, the rifle's an attachment, and the shotgun's a plain flashlight taped to the barrel. The burden of Chiyo's laptop was moved to Sakaki as she awkwardly moved to place it in her pack. They had no time to rest, however, as the insects had begun to return. The group rounded the building and came to the entrance where they met doors modified with heavy metal. Yomi eagerly tried to open them only to discover that they were locked. Cursing Yomi looked around for a way in.

"Over there," Chiyo said pointing.

One of the windows was busted in, seemingly having no reinforcement. Without hesitation Yomi leapt into the window and as soon as she was in gunshots could be heard. Sakaki then helped Chiyo in before going through herself.

Once she had gotten inside Chiyo helped Yomi shooting at the several insects that had been lurking inside. Sakaki for her part sat against the wall as the two defended their position, waiting for that mystery woman to meet them.

"I'm so tired," Sakaki thought to herself as she continued to breathe deeply. Carrying Chiyo around was no easy task, and Sakaki was reaching her limit. She was thankful for the breather as the group defended their position while waiting for that mysterious woman to show up. "The window!" Sakaki alerted the others as a bug began making its way inside. The bug was shot out of the window, but not by Chiyo or Yomi. Silhouetted by her light the woman was motioning the group to come, "This way!" she shouted to the trio. Once more lifting Chiyo into her arms Sakaki followed after Yomi toward the woman.

As they got there the woman helped the trio into what turned out to be a stairwell. Once all were inside the woman closed the heavy door and made sure to lock it. "Come on," she ordered the girls as she began up the stairs.

After only a couple of flights of stairs Sakaki tripped and she and Chiyo fell backwards down several stairs. "I'm sorry!" Sakaki apologized from underneath Chiyo, "Are you all right?" Quickly checking herself over Chiyo insisted that her injuries weren't any worse. Yomi had gone back down the stairs and was helping her friends up while the woman made certain no bugs would surprise them. Sakaki, still out of breath, stood slumped against a wall. "Yomi," the tall girl said breathlessly, "You're going…going to have to…to carry Chiyo. I…I can't." Yomi nodded and handed Sakaki her gun before lifting Chiyo into her arms.

The mysterious woman suddenly opened fire and a bug fell from above and, crashing down, landed at the bottom of the stairwell. "Let's go!" the woman barked at the trio as they once more set off for the fourth floor.

Having made it to the fourth and top floor the woman once more worked the heavy levers that acted as locks opening the door. "We're almost there," she reassured the group. The woman led them down the hallway to another corridor. She carefully looked around the corner then motioned for them to continue to follow her. Following this hallway to the end the woman began to undo the makeshift locks keeping a door armored with scrap metal closed. Opening the door the girl ushered the three women into the decently lit apartment. Sakaki barely made it three steps inside before collapsing to her hands and knees and gasping for air.

Yomi followed suit after setting Chiyo down. "Damn," Yomi muttered in between breaths, "You're a lot heavier than you look!"

Carefully locking the door behind her the woman walked in to see the three girls sitting on the floor. "You guys…" she said, "You guys all survived! It's unbelievable!"

The three girls looked to the familiar figure and it was Sakaki that first recognized her, "Ah!" she said, "You're Kaorin's friend!"

This sparked memories in both Chiyo's and Yomi's brains, "Chihiro!" they exclaimed simultaneously.

Chihiro asked the first question that came to her mind. "Do you guys know what happened to Kaorin?" she asked a little too expectantly. The trio shook their heads. "Oh," Chihiro responded disheartened.

Seeing this Chiyo moved to change the subject. "Thanks for saving us," she said with a small and awkward bow from her sitting position.

"Yeah," Chihiro responded, "You guys are lucky I heard your gunshots. What were you doing out there?"

Yomi shook her head. "It's a long story," the bespectacled girl said.

Looking to Chiyo, Chihiro asked the obvious, "What happened to you?" Chiyo looked to her bandaged arms and leg.

Sakaki spoke up in her stead, "She came to Japan a couple of weeks ago. She fought off a bug."

Chiyo let out a small sigh before talking. "I really wasn't ready for all of this…" she trailed off.

Yomi decided to steer the subject in a different direction. "So, what happened to you?" Yomi asked pointing to Chihiro's face. It sported an obvious scar, running from above her left eye, down her nose, and all the way across her right cheek.

"This?" Chihiro asked pointing to her face. "This is just a bug bite!" she joked. Their conversation was interrupted by Yomi's stomach growling. "Oh," Chihiro started, "I'm not being a very good host am I?" she asked rhetorically. "You'll have to forgive me, it's been ages since I've had guests," Chihiro joked. Turning to the three girls she noticed they were still soaking wet, "You guys should probably get out of those wet clothes," Chihiro mentioned as she turned and started shuffling through some boxes. "Take whatever you need out of the closet there," she said pointing to an unarmored door. With that the girls began to change their clothes as Chihiro retrieved a hot plate and utensils. "All I have is canned food, sorry," the would-be host apologized as she set up her cooking equipment. Chihiro vaguely registered reassurances that the food was okay as she started cooking.

In relative silence the girls set about their tasks, Chihiro focusing on cooking while the others got into drier clothes. Chiyo found a T-shirt of Chihiro's as well as a pair of shorts. To keep the shorts on herself she used a belt to hold them on her small frame. Yomi's case was a bit tougher. She tried on several things, all of which were too small. While understandable it did deal yet another blow to the girl's insecurities. She eventually settled on a sweat suit, a few sizes too small. Sakaki, for her part, gave up on getting anything to fit her. Naked aside from her choker, Sakaki took shelter under the blankets on Chihiro's modest bed. The girls' clothes changed, Chiyo moved to set out their wet clothing in hopes they would dry more quickly. As she was setting them out Chiyo noticed Sakaki's wet pack and felt panic rise up inside her. She scrambled through it to find her laptop and quickly turned it on to make sure it worked and its data was unharmed.

Chihiro noticed the girl's antics and spoke her thoughts, "Everything okay there Chiyo?" Still fretting over her laptop Chiyo didn't hear the girl's inquiry. Unwilling to abandon her task Chihiro quelled her own curiosity, instead focusing on her cooking.

Only a few moments passed before Chihiro heard Chiyo's voice. "It's safe," the genius said with a sigh of relief.

Her curiosity piqued again Chihiro spoke up, "What's that?" she asked, never bothering to look up from her task at hand.

First taking the time to turn off and close the device Chiyo responded, "It's my laptop, it has all my data about the virus, the vaccine, and the bugs."

Quickly putting two and two together, Chihiro came up with a clever question. "You think the bugs and the virus are connected?" she asked as she shuffled about to get plates for her guests.

Chiyo nodded, despite Chihiro not looking at her. "I'm certain," the genius stated with purpose, "that the virus was brought by those things. I still need proof though." Chihiro mulled Chiyo's words over as she loaded up the plates. Not receiving a response Chiyo continued, "I hope that when I get my proof maybe I'll be able to find something to help with finding a vaccine."

"Here," Chihiro said as she handed Chiyo her plate. She then moved to hand plates to her other guests, taking the time to ask Sakaki not to get her bedding covered in food. Chihiro finally spoke when she moved to take her own plate, "Why bother with a vaccine?" she asked, "Isn't everyone that's left alive immune to the virus?"

Chiyo nodded, "They are," she said, "but newborns aren't. If we don't get a vaccine the human race won't make it more than a couple of more generations."

Chihiro shook her head, "Is a vaccine the only way?" she asked, "I've been trying to kill them. If we kill them all won't that solve the problem?"

Chiyo thought about it for a bit before shaking her head no. "Even if they are the cause, it's here now and I don't think it's going away. We need a vaccine," she stated bluntly.

"That's no good," Chihiro said looking around the room, "There's no way you're going to develop a vaccine here, you need better equipment."

Chiyo sighed, "I know that," she said, "I brought some basic stuff with me, it isn't good enough though. I need a fully equipped lab, but the bugs are far more threatening than I imagined. I don't know how I'm going to go about doing this."

A/N: Hanafuda are Japanese playing cards, though that much is easily inferred. I couldn't decide on a card game for the group to be playing, so I did my best to write them playing while not giving any details. This irritatingly serves my purpose but seems to rob the scene of quite a bit of detail. Another issue is that most card games involve dialogue, and that would be a serious obsticle especially considering dialogue is probably my greatest obsticle to overcome. This chapter introduces Chihiro, a character I did not originally plan on writing in. I cannot say exacly why I decided to add her in, only that it turned out that way. I like Chihiro mostly because little effort has to be exerted to keep her at least somewhat close to in character (since she only served as a minor character and her personality was never fleshed out).


	7. Swarm

--Grey smoke billows up into a clear blue sky from a bonfire built on the ashes of a familiar store--

It had been nearly a week since Kaorin and Kagura had their big fight. In spite of having called a truce the duo continued to butt heads at every given chance. As the group had settled on finding more people and fighting the bugs they had built a bonfire every day they could. But as the days dragged on they became disheartened by not one single person coming.

"This isn't working," Kaorin complained as the group sat around the fire. "We should just give up and leave. Korea and China aren't that far away and I'm certain that the bugs can't cross the ocean," she continued.

Kagura stood and shook her head. "No way!" she retorted. "We've decided that we're gonna stay and fight! That's what we're gonna do! Even if we have to do it just us four!" the athletic girl shouted at Kaorin.

Kaorin turned away from Kagura's angry glare and crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh?" Kaorin challenged, "And just how do you plan on hunting down bugs with just us?"

Kagura visibly deflated. "I…I dunno," was Kagura's simple response. "Why don't you guys come up with something?" Kagura asked, looking from Kaorin over to Tomo and Osaka and back. Tomo and Osaka shook their heads while Kaorin sighed. "Well even if we don't have a plan we'll still fight!" Kagura frustratingly said, "We're not gonna give up and run away!"

Turning to face Kagura once more Kaorin continued to challenge her, "If we stay here it is surely suicide, tonight we should gather up what we can carry and make our way out of Japan."

Tomo, getting up from her seat on an abandoned truck, questioned Kaorin. "So where should we go?"

Kaorin sighed, "I already said we should make our way to China."

Kagura looked to Osaka, "You think we should stay, right?" Kagura asked the girl behind the camera.

After looking thoughtful for a moment Osaka spoke, "Well, I don't really think we should go ta China. None of us can speak Chinese, we should go ta America!"

Kaorin shook her head again, "America is really far away. It'd be a dangerous trip! China or Korea would be the safest bet," Kaorin said with confidence.

Kagura, frustrated no one would take her side, yelled at the group. "I don't care which is safer! I'm not leaving!" she shouted at them.

She looked to Osaka again, "You're with me, right? You'll stay with me?" she desperately asked.

Osaka shook her head, "I don't really think-"

"Fine!" Kagura cut her off, "Stay with them, I'll be fine on my own!" And with that Kagura stormed off away from the group.

Osaka watched through the camera lens as Tomo ran after Kagura. Tomo caught up to Kagura and animated started talking to her. The duo were too far away for Kaorin and Osaka to make out any words, but it only took a few seconds before Kagura pushed Tomo away and continued walking away from the group.

Tomo quickly ran back to the group, "Come on guys!" she excitedly said, a little out of breath. "We can't let her go off by herself!" she said and pointed to Osaka, "You said it yourself we need to stay together!"

Osaka nodded, and was about to say something when Kaorin cut her off, "If she wants to stay here and die its fine by me."

Tomo looked back and forth between Kagura and the two girls next to her. Making up her mind Tomo once more took off after Kagura, "I'll get her to come back! You guys wait for us!" she shouted as she made her way toward Kagura's retreating figure.

Kaorin watched on as Tomo caught up to Kagura and the pair disappeared down the streets. "Looks like it's just us two, Osaka," Kaorin said as she took off for their shelter in the police station. "Come on," she ordered, "we need to get ready for our trip tomorrow."

Osaka followed obediently after. "But Kaorin," she started, "shouldn't we wait for Kagura and Tomo ta get back?"

Kaorin shook her head as she entered the familiar building. "If they don't come back before nightfall odds are they're probably dead," she said rather coolly, "This is the only good shelter around here."

Osaka turned around and looked outside, "Shouldn't we go after them then? We can't jus' let them die!" she protested.

"No," Kaorin retorted as she dragged Osaka along into one of the jail cells, "If we go after them we could die too. Nightfall is only a few hours away." Kaorin started shuffling amongst the things they had, deciding what to try and carry with them. "Help me get everything ready," Kaorin told Osaka.

"But," Osaka protested, "a few hours is enough time, we gotta go get 'em so they don't die!"

Kaorin was getting frustrated with all of them. "Look, if Kagura wants to die let her!" Kaorin yelled at Osaka.

The space cadet continued to protest, much to Kaorin's chagrin. "Kagura doesn't want to die, she jus' don't wanna leave Japan. And Tomo don't even wanna leave, she jus' don't want Kagura to die…I don't want them to die!" Osaka finished.

At that Kaorin shot up and got in Osaka's face. "Which do you want?! Do you want to live, or do you want to go after those two and die?! You'll all die if you stay here, we all will!" Kaorin yelled at Osaka. Willing herself to calm down some Kaorin offered a small apology. "If that idiot has any brains at all she'll come back with Tomo and we'll all leave together tomorrow. If you really want to help them then pray Kagura comes to her senses," she said much more calmly as she returned to sorting through their equipment. Without saying a word Osaka slowly moved to help Kaorin.

--Shortly after storming off from Kaorin and Osaka--

"We should really go back," Tomo informed a still fuming Kagura.

"Hell no," Kagura retorted, "I'm not leaving, I'm gonna stay and fight!"

Tomo kept racking her brain for something to say to make Kagura come with them. "We won't stay in China forever you know. We'll just be there long enough to get some help, and then we'll come back and kill all the bugs!"

Kagura shook her head. "You really think that's how it will happen?" Kagura asked rhetorically. "No, no one in China will give a damn about Japan. We won't get help to kill these, and Japan will be lost forever to these things," Kagura ranted.

Tomo sighed as she thought to herself, "I guess she's right. I need to get her to come with us though. She'll die out here alone." Tomo spoke up, "I never thought about it like that, but still unless you have some kind of plan we can't beat these things."

Kagura continued to fume, "I'll come up with something, somehow." With that the duo fell into silence as they walked seemingly aimlessly down the city's abandoned streets.

It was quite some time before Tomo felt the need to speak up again. "So where are we going? It's getting late and the sun will go down soon," Tomo said a little worriedly.

Kagura, who had calmed down quite a bit, was looking at the buildings on either side of the street. "There is a house where me and Osaka stayed at the night before we met you guys. We're going there." Kagura informed her friend.

Tomo looked at the decrepit structures around them before speaking, "Are you sure it's safe? Most of these houses look like they'd fall down if a bug just crawled on top of it."

Kagura assured her it was safe as they turned a corner. "It's around here…somewhere…" Kagura trailed off as she continued to eye the buildings.

"What?!" Tomo exclaimed, "You don't know where it is?!"

Shaking her head Kagura lamented, "I know it's somewhere around here, just not sure exactly where."

At this Tomo started to panic, "We have to go somewhere! This is bad!"

Kagura, amazingly, remained calm. "We'll find it, don't worry about it."

"Don't worry?" Tomo mocked, "We probably don't even have an hour of light left!"

Going from a slow walk to a brisk jog Kagura took off ushering Tomo to follow. "If you're so worried lets speed it up!" Kagura exclaimed.

Fortunately for the duo they came upon the structure Kagura had mentioned only minutes after picking up their pace. It was a modest structure, most likely a very nice house before the outbreak, but now it was in disrepair. However, this house had one thing most others did not. This house was fortified, probably long before the outbreak, with bars on the doors and windows.

Kagura stood triumphant in front of building. "See?" she boasted, "I told you we'd find it with plenty of time to spare!" Tomo, completely out of breath and leaning against Kagura for support, only nodded in response. Pushing her friend off of her Kagura ran up to barred door and removed a corkscrew shaped piece of metal that served as a lock keeping the bars shut. "You ready?" the athletic girl called out to Tomo. Receiving no response she turned to see Tomo on her hands and knees still unable to catch her breath. "Oh come on Tomo!" Kagura berated, "You can't be that tired after such a short run!" Kagura visibly paled as she watched poor Tomo vomit. "Okay…" Kagura said as she moved to her friend, "maybe you are that tired." Rubbing Tomo's back in an effort to comfort her Kagura asked Tomo if she was going to be okay to which Tomo only nodded.

After letting Tomo catch her breath Kagura helped Tomo to her feet. "You okay now?" she asked Tomo anxiously, "We really need to hurry up and get inside."

Tomo nodded as she checked her pistol. "I should have grabbed my shotgun." Tomo lamented as she saw Kagura toying with her rifle. With that the duo moved silently to the structure's door and prepared to enter a potential deathtrap. "Ready?" Tomo asked. Kagura gave a nod as she turned the knob on the door before swiftly opening it. The pair rushed in and they were relieved to find no immediate threat. They carefully moved through the entryway and into what was apparently a living room that was connected to a kitchen further in. It was a relief that so far there were no bugs.

Kagura spoke up in a hushed tone, "Should we clear the rest of the house or barricade ourselves in here?" Holstering her pistol Tomo mentioned they should just stay here as she flopped down on an old sofa. While Tomo's nonchalant behavior irritated Kagura, she let it pass as she moved furniture to barricade the doors.

Kagura's task didn't take long, but still just after she finished the sounds of bugs were beginning to echo through the old house. Hoping that no bugs could get into the house and even more that they couldn't get into this room, Kagura took a seat at the end of the sofa throwing Tomo's legs off and forcing her into a sitting position. Tomo didn't complain, instead she only stared blankly at one of the house's barred windows. "Do you think we're safe?" Tomo questioned the girl next to her.

Kagura leaned back and stared at the ceiling, "I really hope so," she offered. She then turned her head to Tomo, "Are you feeling okay now?" Kagura asked.

"Okay, I guess," Tomo responded, "I'm still a little nauseous, but I've been that way for a few days now."

Kagura looked a little disgusted, "Are you coming down with something?" she asked. Tomo just shrugged. "You'd better not get me sick," Kagura berated, "The last thing I need to be here by myself and to be sick."

Finally turning to her friend Tomo lamented, "You're really not going to come with us?"

Kagura shook her head, "No way I'm leaving. I'm not giving up this fight."

"It's not giving up!" Tomo countered, "It's a tactical retreat, we'll get away until we get enough support to safely take Japan back."

"No," Kagura countered, "That's not how things will happen. If everyone leaves Japan they'll stay where it's safe. People will only come back here once mankind has recovered and by then there will be no Japanese left. Japan will just become another part of China or Korea," she ranted.

Tomo had never thought about it that much. What Kagura said was most likely true, too. "You are probably right about that," Tomo admitted. "I don't want Japan to fall apart, but I don't want die either! Even if it means the loss of Japan isn't it worth it to live out the rest of your life?" Tomo argued.

Kagura didn't give it a moment's thought before replying. "No way, I'm not going to die to these damned bugs. I'm going to fight them and I'm going to take back Japan. Even if…Even if I have to do it all by myself." Kagura finished with a hint of uncertainty.

Tomo put a hand on Kagura's shoulder before imploring her once more. "I want to stay too, and I don't want Japan to fade away either. But still, there aren't enough of us to kill them all. We _have_ to leave if we want to live. Please come with us."

Kagura shook her head, "No," she firmly stated.

Tomo didn't expect a different reply, but she sure had hoped for one. "I hope...I hope you don't die," Tomo said seriously.

"I won't," Kagura reassured her.

Their conversation was interrupted by an infernal, ominous buzzing. Curious to the alien noise the duo got up and moved to a barred window.

--A short time earlier back at the police station--

Osaka and Kaorin had been busying themselves with organizing and preparing the supplies for their journey. But with the fall of night they opted to put off the last of the packing until the morning, a choice they would not regret.

Osaka was busy taking care of her camera when she spoke up. "I sure hope Kagura an' Tomo are okay," the spacey girl spoke her thoughts.

Kaorin cringed at the mention of those two. "They're probably dead," Kaorin managed to say with indifference.

Osaka protested, "But they could still be alive. You don't know that they ain't alive."

"I know," Kaorin said, "but it's best just to assume they're dead and move on."

Osaka couldn't understand that logic. "That doesn't make sense," she said, "Ain't it better to assume that they're okay?"

Kaorin dismissed the girl's question. "Believe what you want." Kaorin said.

"But…" Osaka started to protest only to be cut off by Kaorin.

"We're leaving tomorrow! Either way we will never see them again so it doesn't matter what you believe!" she insisted.

Osaka continued to push her luck with Kaorin. "But if they're alive…I mean Tomo said she was comin' back. We should wait a day!" Osaka insisted.

"No!" Kaorin refused, "We are leaving here as soon as possible!"

Osaka shook her head, "Why do ya wanna go so soon? It wouldn't hurt none to wait a day."

Kaorin looked away from the spacey girl. "I don't want to stay. Everyone has died…person after person. All that's left now is us and we need to get away. If we don't hurry up and leave we're going to die too! I…I'm scared and I just want to get away," Kaorin ranted.

No sooner had Kaorin finished her statement did the sound of buzzing reach the two girls' ears. Both girls tried to look to the noise, but locked inside the cell they couldn't find the source.

Osaka started panicking a little, "What's that sound?!"

Kaorin was still looking about the ceiling and to the walls in hopes of seeing what was causing the noise. "I don't know," she admitted, "I wish this stupid cell had a window!"

Osaka pointed the bugs on the other side of the bars. "Look," she observed, "they hear it too." Sure enough the bugs had begun to wonder about, forgetting the potential meal of the girls, and slowly making their way out of the jail. "Should we go see what that noise is?" Osaka asked.

"No," Kaorin ordered, "we're staying here where it's safe. There is no point in risking our necks to figure out what it is." Osaka turned to stare at where the bugs stood only moments earlier when a thought struck her. "Ah!" she exclaimed as she scrambled for her camcorder and a memory card. "I should record this!" she said to no one in particular as she was turning on her beloved device.

Kaorin rolled her eyes at the girl's antics. "Record what?" she asked Osaka as the spacey woman brought the camcorder to her face.

Osaka looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "This noise," she stated simply.

--Meanwhile, in an apartment not far away--

The group in Chihiro's apartment had already bedded down for the night. Sakaki and Chiyo took Chihiro's bed while Yomi and Chihiro were stuck curled up on the floor.

Chiyo stirred to the sound of buzzing. "What's that sound?" she asked the room. Her question brought Chihiro back from the brink of unconsciousness. She was about to ask 'what sound' when she heard it too. Chihiro shook Yomi awake while Chiyo did the same for Sakaki. "What's that noise?" Chiyo repeated her question. The irritated Yomi and Sakaki both looked perplexed.

Having decided this conversation was going nowhere Chihiro retrieved a pistol and a flashlight before moving to one of her armored windows. "It's coming from outside," she stated bluntly, "Let's see what it is." Yomi mirrored her host's moves, arming herself before moving to a different window. The two nodded to each other in silence before sliding open the armored window covers aside. The duo leaned out the windows and quickly scanned the sides of the building for threats. Finding none the duo simultaneously looked to the source of the sound and were horrified at what they saw.

"Oh my god…" Yomi mumbled aloud.

At this both Chiyo and Sakaki got out of bed to see what the commotion was. Looking up the night sky was silhouetted with the images of bugs. Dozens, hundreds of bugs and they were doing one thing none thought they were capable of: they were flying.

Chiyo was astounded, the bug she had a look at had wings, but they were far too underdeveloped for flight. "How are they flying?" she asked no one in particular, "Have they done this before?" She received a collective 'no' from the group.

Chihiro asked Chiyo, "What is this? What's going on?"

Chiyo shook her head, "You all know more of bugs than I do!" she insisted.

The conversation was cut short by gunshots, as their lights had attracted several insects, even some of the flying ones. Retreating inside Yomi and Chihiro closed their respective windows. The entire group was deeply troubled by this development as they repeatedly asked each other just what was going on. It was Sakaki who first formed a theory, and a very ominous one at that.

"It's late spring," she observed, "could they be swarming?" While Chihiro looked perplexed Sakaki's observation disturbed the rest of the group.

"No way," Yomi protested, "these bugs aren't social. They don't have nests so it's unlikely that they would swarm. This has to be something else."

Sakaki shook her head, "They could have nests," she protested, "and they show signs of being social."

Chihiro interrupted them, "You're going too fast for me! Just what the hell are you talking about?!"

It was Chiyo that took the time to explain things to Chihiro. "A swarm is when social insects, like bees, exhaust the food around their nest or get too numerous. A large group of the nest breaks off with a new queen and moves to a new nest. It's how some social insects spread out."

Chihiro looked to the window then back to the group. "So this is…really bad?" she asked.

Yomi shook her head. "No," she insisted, "these bugs aren't social, so they won't swarm. This has to be something else."

Sakaki protested this point once more, "They are social," she retorted, "I've never seen healthy bugs attack each other or cannibalize a living bug."

"Maybe not," Yomi said, "but also no one has ever seen them drag food away. You can't feed a queen without bringing food to a nest."

Sakaki continued to argue her point. "What about reproduction then? Have you ever seen an egg or a pregnant bug?" Sakaki said shaking her head, "There must be a queen, or at least a nest where they reproduce."

Chiyo suddenly realized she was missing out on a golden opportunity and moved to her laptop. Turning it on and furiously typing on its keyboard she was doing her best to keep up with the debate. Yomi had no response to how they reproduced. How they grew in number never even crossed her mind. This train of thought brought an old question once more to the forefront to her mind.

"Where did they come from?" Yomi questioned, "This is no evolutionary hiccup. This is way too fast."

This struck an idea within Chiyo. "Maybe it is evolution!" she exclaimed, "Maybe somehow they evolved wings capable of flight and that's what this is!"

The group continued to argue over the origins and behavior of their universal foes well into the night.

Awakening bright and early, Kaorin and Osaka take the time to pack their things in preparation of their journey…

--At dawn Kagura and Tomo begin their trek back to the police station--

Upon seeing the flying insects the duo had quickly decided that running away was no longer an option. If the bugs could fly then surely they would reach China and all of Asia, Europe, and Africa. No, the only option was to stay and fight. With this conclusion Kagura and Tomo were hastily making their way back to the police station to convince the other duo that running away was now futile. They wanted to hurry, but with Tomo still feeling nauseous the pair could go no faster than a brisk walk. A restriction that caused Kagura to grow more and more frustrated. Looking for a solution as they walked back to the police station Kagura found something that could help: a bike. She motioned for Tomo to stop as she went to the abandoned vehicle. Much to Kagura's delight the bike seemed to be in working order.

"Here," Kagura said as she offered the bike to Tomo, "with this we can make better time."

Tomo mounted the old bike and the two were off again. This time they were making much better time since Kagura could run and Tomo could easily maintain the pace being on the vehicle. While they had to stop a few times to carry, or in one case throw, the bike over obstacles in the abandoned streets, they made it to the police station in record time.

Kagura, quite literally, bumped into Kaorin and Osaka as she entered the police station. At first apologetic, Kagura quickly turned serious as she saw all the things the duo was trying to drag out of the police station.

Looking up Kaorin saw a sight she was certain she'd never see again, Kagura. What…What are you-"

"What the hell?!" Kagura cut her off, "You…You guys were gonna leave, even after that…that…that thing last night?!"

After standing and dusting herself off Kaorin got into Kagura's face, "Of course we're lea-"

"What thing?" Osaka interrupted.

It was Tomo's turn to speak. "I guess you guys wouldn't have seen it in that cell."

Even Kaorin was now curious, "Seen _what_?" she asked.

Kagura and Tomo looked to each other before looking back to Kaorin and Osaka. Kagura excitedly started to explain the extraordinary sight of the previous night. "They _flew_, hundreds of them! They were flying! So running away won't work anymore," she finished on a much more somber note.

Kaorin stood staring blankly at Kagura. It couldn't be true! They were going to flee to China. They were going to finally be free of this living nightmare. It couldn't be true! "W-What flew?" Kaorin asked, hoping beyond all hope they were talking about something else.

"The bugs!" Tomo exclaimed, "You had to have at least heard their wings!"

Kaorin shook her head. "No," she said, "You're lying! You just want to stay so you're making things up!"

Kagura grabbed Kaorin by the shoulders and stared into her eyes. "We are _not_ making this up! The bugs were flying. That means if you run away to China or Korea or wherever they will catch up, if they aren't there already! Kaorin we _have_ to make a stand right here," Kagura spoke slowly and with purpose to a dazed Kaorin.

Kaorin wouldn't have any of it. She shook her head as tears threatened to flow. "No!" she cried, "Even if they can fly that doesn't mean they made it to Korea and China! We should still try to-"

"It's not worth the risk!" Kagura interrupted her, "I'm staying, aren't you two?" The question was directed at both Tomo and Osaka who both now took Kagura's side instead of Kaorin's.

Kaorin couldn't believe it. Just as she was about to escape this hell, just as the end was within reach it all came crashing down around her. "No," she breathed as tears started to fall. Kaorin took a step and closed the gap between herself and Kagura and hugged her as she began to cry into her arms. Kagura was more than a little taken back at the emotional train wreck in her arms. Kaorin quickly began grasping at straws. "W-What about America?" she asked as she looked up to Kagura. "They can't…They couldn't make it all the way there! We…We could-" she was cut off by Kagura.

"You said it would be too dangerous yourself," Kagura assured the distraught woman, "We are going to stay and fight and we'll need your help too." Kaorin once more buried her head in Kagura's chest as she continued to sob.

--One good cry later--

After Kaorin had calmed down a bit the group had moved back to the cells. They were busy putting everything back in its place while Kaorin pulled herself together. Tomo suddenly abandoned the task at hand to run to the toilet, emptying her stomach's contents. Osaka and Kaorin were immediately concerned while Kagura seemed to ignore it.

"Tomo are ya okay?" Osaka asked as she videotaped the poor woman hugging the toilet seat. Tomo nodded only to retch again.

Kagura informed the concerned duo about Tomo's apparent illness. "She says she's been nauseous for a week. So it can't be that serious or she'd have really been sick by now," she said rather unconcerned as she took a seat next to Kaorin.

"What could cause that?" Kaorin pondered aloud.

Almost immediately an idea struck Osaka, "Ah! I know," she announced. Osaka turned her gaze back to Tomo and bluntly asked, "When was your last period?"

With that Tomo fell back onto her rump with a look on her face like a deer caught in the headlights. After pondering that question for what seemed like an eternity Tomo turned to see all the other girls staring at her expectantly. "It…It's been a long time," she admitted.

"How long?" Kaorin inquired.

Tomo shook her head, "I don't know. I don't even know what month it is now," she said as she shied away from the stares of her friends.

"Well," Osaka started, "are ya late?"

Tomo nodded. "Yeah…really late," she sedately mumbled.

An awkward silence followed for the longest time only to be broken by Osaka. "Congratulations!" she said sincerely.

"Who's the father?" Kagura and Kaorin asked simultaneously.

Tomo looked away. "T-Taro," Tomo admitted as she looked away, hiding her expression. "He's the only guy I've ever…" Tomo trailed off.

"I-I'm sorry," Kaorin apologized with a bow.

"You don't need to worry," Kagura reassured Tomo as she moved to the girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll take good care of you, I promise."

"Thanks," Tomo mumbled as she started to cry and reached out to Kagura.

Kagura wrapped Tomo up in an embrace. She wanted to say something to calm her friend down, but unfortunately the tomboy couldn't think of anything at all to say.

A thought suddenly hit Kaorin. "Tomo! You were drinking!" she scolded.

Kagura quickly jumped to Tomo's defense. "Well you _shot_ her!" she yelled at Kaorin. Tomo didn't pay either of them much mind. Instead she just cried into Kagura's arms even though the foolish tomboy was fighting with Kaorin.

--Another good cry later--

Tomo sniffled as she tore herself away from Kagura and out of her arms. She heard Kaorin ask where she was going as she picked up her shotgun and prepared to leave the cell. "I'm going to go find a pregnancy test. I need to know for sure," she said with a few sniffles.

Kaorin moved to stop her. "You already have morning sickness. I don't really think you need a pregnancy test at this point," Kaorin reasoned.

"I don't care!" Tomo shouted at her before turning and walking away.

Kagura quickly jumped up, grabbed her rifle, and went after Tomo. "We can't let her go alone!" she informed Kaorin and Osaka as she went past. Kaorin nodded and grabbed her gun as well and followed after Kagura with Osaka right behind her.

A/N: A long rant this time. Fair warning! This chapter I fear may suffer from the rapid and numerous scene changes. This one easily beats out all others and even has two scene changes back to back! As far as pacing the only problem I anticipate would be with the scenes not always in exact chronological order (A couple totally different scenes start at the same time so when one ended a time jump had to be made backwards to start the next.) Although this chapter is action-free this one is important as it moves the stagnating story along. This chapter introduces several limitations upon the groups. Flying bugs means running away is no simple task and Tomo's pregnancy introduces a time limit of sorts. Originally I hadn't planned on Kagura and Kaorin to continue arguing all the time, but it served as a nice excuse for Kagura to get out and discover the bugs flying. This chapter also gives more hints into the insects via the minds of the girls. It only occured to me during this chapter that I somehow ended up with all the smarter girls in one group and poor Kaorin got stuck with all of the bonkuras. I'd hoped to go more into Kaorin's thoughts and feelings on the matter of running away and escaping her nightmare, but for the same token so far I've been trying to present this fic as it would be in video or manga, as opposed to literature. Literature easily delves into the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters, while manga and other media instead only show the physical actions and actual words of the characters and only rarely gives small glimpses into their actual thoughts. I may later decide this was a bad choice and add in a paragraph or two on Kaorin's feelings as well as some introspection on Tomo's little surprise.


	8. Predestined Destination

--A sunny afternoon a few days after the first flight of the bugs--

Tomo lay alone in the small bed inside the jail cell. Not surprisingly the pregnancy test had been positive and Tomo had been pretty messed up ever since. It wasn't like she didn't want to have a child, but this was defiantly not the time and quite possibly the worst place to have one. Tomo wanted desperately for the group to hurry up and push the insects out of Japan, or at least out of the area. She couldn't imagine trying to raise a child under the current circumstances. A world where there were real bogeymen lurked in the darkness. One misstep and her child could end up a small snack for those horrible bugs. The mere thought of it made Tomo's stomach turn. Tomo quickly got up and ran to the toilet. After emptying her stomach again Tomo made her way back to the bed and sat down. It was depressing, as things stood now there was almost no chance of this ending well. Tomo did her best to dispel the unpleasant thoughts from her head and tried to be more hopeful.

The group had been working toward a solution and so far all they had come up with is that they needed a truckload of weapons and ammo if they ever hoped to drive the bugs out. Kaorin claimed to know where to get the gear, so all that was needed was a truck. Luckily they came across a nice truck that wasn't in too bad of a condition and the girls had been working on it ever since. Quickly getting bored Tomo decided to go check on the girls' progress.

Just outside the police station the girls' would be vehicle was a fairly new pickup truck. Kagura was in the driver's seat while Kaorin was working under the hood. Osaka was keeping herself occupied by watching past events on her camcorder in the truck bed.

"It's still not done yet?" Tomo complained as she walked over to her friends.

Never looking up from her task Kaorin assured her it was almost finished. "All right, turn it over," Kaorin called out to Kagura who in turn began to look about the cabin.

"Turn what over?" she asked.

An irritated Kaorin was about to yell at Kagura when the engine roared to life. Looking up Kaorin saw that Tomo had shoved Kagura out of the way and turned the key. She couldn't help but smile at the sight. Quickly dismissing it, Kaorin looked at the engine again before closing the hood. "Okay, you can turn it off. Everything seems to be working," she instructed Tomo.

Following the instructions Tomo turned off the engine before climbing out of the cab. "So now that we have a vehicle are we going to go get those weapons?" Tomo asked Kaorin.

Kaorin shook her head as she climbed into the truck bed. "No, we should head out at first light tomorrow. The last thing we want is to be stuck away when night falls," she explained.

Kagura stepped out of the truck cab and into the conversation, "It's barely noon! We have plenty of time. You said it was only a few kilometers away."

Kaorin glared daggers at the tomboy. "It's too dangerous to go out now. We don't know how many obstacles will be in our way and how difficult it will be to move them," she reasoned.

"That's stupid!" Kagura countered, "If there are gonna be obstacles we should leave right now then! Even if we don't make it all the way there we can clear most of the way for tomorrow."

It was a sound argument. Kaorin sighed, "Okay you win," she conceded, "But before we leave there is still one more thing we need to do."

Kaorin picked up two empty gas cans from inside the truck bed and handed them to Kagura. She eyed the empty cans skeptically, "Are we supposed to get gas from somewhere?"

Kaorin bent down and picked something up as she answered her, "Nope! _You_ are!" she exclaimed as she threw a hose at Kagura.

"What?!" Kagura exclaimed indignantly, "Why me?"

Kaorin pointed to Tomo, "She's pregnant," then Kaorin pointed to Osaka, "and I don't think she has enough strength to suck the gas up."

"Well why can't you do it?" Kagura asked as she glared at Kaorin.

Kaorin smirked. "There's only one hose," she taunted.

Giving up on the fight Kagura stormed off to perform her task.

Kaorin looked down to Tomo, "You're more help than Kagura," she praised as she climbed out of the truck bed. "Just in case I think we should find a spare tire, any ideas?" she asked Tomo.

Tomo stared at the vehicle, "For a truck?" she asked rhetorically. After thinking for a minute she came up with an idea. "My boss had a truck like this one. I think his house is pretty close to here," she said.

"Osaka!" Kaorin called to the spacey woman, "Come on, and be sure to bring the jack and tire iron."

After fumbling around in the truck bed for a minute Osaka complained, "I can't carry both! I only have two hands." While not normally a conundrum, Osaka, as always, has one hand occupied with her camcorder so she was unable to carry both.

Realizing this Kaorin frustratingly started to get the items herself before deciding otherwise. "Wait here," she ordered her friends as she disappeared into the police station. The two girls stared after her for a minute before she reemerged from the structure wearing her pack and carrying Tomo's. As she handed Tomo her bag Kaorin told Osaka to stay here. "…and tell Kagura that when she gets back, okay?" Kaorin ordered.

Osaka gave a nod, "'Kay."

With that Kaorin packed the tire iron and jack in their packs and the duo were on the way. Of course no sooner had they set off did Tomo start talking. "You sent Kagura off to get gas and now we're getting a tire. If we keep trying to take more and more stuff with us then we're not going to get a whole lot of room to carry stuff back," she observed.

Kaorin's gaze fell to her feet. "I know," she said sedately, "but I just want to make sure that we're safe. I don't want anything bad to happen again. I don't…I don't think I could take something like that again."

Locking her hands behind her head Tomo looked up into the sky and thought a moment for something to get off of this sore subject. "You really got the car running, I thought you only fixed airplanes?" she asked.

"Aircraft," Kaorin corrected, "and besides I had a course or two in car mechanics."

"Hey!" Tomo exclaimed, "Maybe we should find an airplane so you can fix it up. It'd be a lot easier to get around in an airplane than try to navigate the streets in a car."

Kaorin shook her head, "There'd be no place to land and besides, I only fix them. I don't have a pilot's license."

Tomo suddenly pointed, "There it is!" she exclaimed. Sure enough there was a truck parked not far from the duo.

The duo descended upon the vehicle and Kaorin checked to make sure the tires were compatible with the truck they had acquired. Sure enough they would do and the duo began working to free a tire from the truck.

--Back with the truck--

Osaka, easily amused with her camcorder, did not notice Kagura's return with two now-full gas cans.

Kagura loaded the gas cans onto the truck bed and asked Osaka the obvious. "Where are Tomo and Kaorin?" she asked the still oblivious Osaka. "Osaka!" she yelled at the woman.

At this Osaka finally noticed Kagura. "Hey Kagura, welcome back," she greeted her. Kagura irately restated her question. "Ah, the left to find a tire, but Kaorin told me to tell you to put that gas in the truck and go get more," she said completely unaware of Kagura's chagrin.

"What?!" Kagura fumed, "No way! If that sadistic bitch wants more she can go get it herself!"

Osaka didn't pay her much mind. She figured Kagura was just upset about something, so she forgot about it and went back to watching past events through her camcorder.

Kagura stormed off into the police station. "This is so stupid!" she shouted at the empty room. "Why the hell does she get to call all the shots?! Especially when it's usually me that's right!" She willed herself to calm down a bit, but she was still pretty angry. Kagura was soon overcome by a devious train of thought. She then marched out and back to Osaka. "Oi, Osaka!" she made sure to yell loud enough to get her attention. Getting up and looking to Kagura Osaka asked what she wanted. "Osaka," Kagura started seriously, "what do you think about leaving? We could take whatever supplies we need and drive away in the truck."

Osaka looked perplexed. "Kaorin and Tomo haven't come back yet. We need ta wait for them." Kagura shook her head.

"No," she said, "I mean leave without them."

Osaka continued to stare blankly at her. "Why would ya wanna do that?" she asked.

"I…I…" Kagura didn't have a response. She didn't think things through at all. Osaka had no grudges so of course she wouldn't want to abandon old friends. "Never mind," Kagura dismissed.

Tomo and Kaorin soon returned to find Kagura sitting in the back of the truck with Osaka. Kaorin and Tomo rolled the tire to the back of the truck before lifting it in. "Did you fill up the tank?" Kaorin asked Kagura.

Kagura didn't even look up from Osaka's camcorder. "No, I didn't," she said nonchalantly.

Gritting her teeth Kaorin let it pass seeing as how Kagura had at least gotten some gas. "Fine," she said, "we have enough gas already to at least clear part of the path." With that she got into the driver's seat and started the truck. "Tomo, get in!" she shouted to Tomo who was still standing by the truck. Once Tomo had climbed into the passenger's seat Kaorin put the truck into gear and started off. "Hold on back there!" she yelled to the duo in the truck bed. Now that they had started off on their short trek Osaka scrambled about to change the memory card for a fresh one. After all it would be terrible if something interesting happened and Osaka wasn't able to record it.

--Several hours later in the predawn hour--

The girls in the apartment were rudely awakened by a cacophony of bug sounds the likes of which the girls had never heard. It sounded as if there were bugs all around them banging around and howling. Chihiro quickly got up and turned on all the lights in the room. Yomi and Chiyo got to their feet and looked to Chihiro for guidance while a groggy Sakaki still sat in bed.

"What's going on?" Sakaki asked, though the girls could barely hear her over the noise.

"Shit!" Chihiro cursed, "The door!"

Sure enough the armored door was bulged out and almost completely off its hinges. Upon seeing this Chihiro began grabbing her weapons and gearing herself up and the other girls followed suit, including a now fully awake Sakaki. By the time all the girls had gotten their gear ready the door was completely off its hinges and only held in place by Chihiro's makeshift locks. Chihiro looked to her watch and cursed again.

"It's still early! I don't think the sun is up yet!" she yelled over the din of insect noise.

No sooner did she get those words out did the door collapse into the room revealing a horrifying sight. The hallway appeared as nothing more than a giant moving mass of insects. The girls opened fire as the insects flooded into the room. As each insect fell its corpse was quickly dragged by other insects into the hallway and out of sight.

"This is no good!" Chihiro shouted as she reloaded her weapon, "We need to get out!" The swarm of bugs was slowly gaining ground on the women and perhaps the only reason they had not been overrun already was the bugs' new found interest in carrying off the corpses of the fallen. "Chiyo!" Chihiro shouted at the young woman, "Look and see if you can't find a rope or something! We need to get out through a window!"

Following Chihiro's orders Chiyo quickly began simply dumping out every box, crate, and drawer in search of something to aid them in their escape. "Found it!" the young genius shouted as she found a length a rope. As soon as she announced that the part of the wall just above the bed fell in, a bug's mandible sticking through the small hole. "They're coming in through the wall!" Chiyo warned the others.

Doing her best to assess the situation while still keeping fire on the doorway, Chihiro had to think quickly. "Okay, tie the rope off, but don't open a window yet!" she shouted, "And Chiyo, there is a detonator in the nightstand! I want you to grab that!"

Chiyo then quickly hobbled about setting the rope and then retrieved the detonator. "It's ready!" Chiyo shouted over the din as she handed Chihiro the detonator before picking up a gun and once more helping to hold back the surging insects.

With Chiyo picking up the slack Chihiro broke off from firing and moved the window. Retrieving a flash-bang she quickly opened the window, deployed the grenade, and swiftly shut the window. The flash-bang soon went off with an incredibly loud burst. Once it had gone off Chihiro reopened the window and threw the rope down. "Move out!" she ordered as she turned and began firing at the bugs again. Chihiro provided cover fire as the girls filed out of the window and down to the street below. Outside there was enough predawn light for the girls to easily see without the aid of flashlights. Once all the other girls had safely exited the room Chihiro deployed another flash-bang, this time leaving the grenade in the middle of the room, before grabbing the rope and jumping out of the window. The flash-bang did well to keep bugs from immediately following after, but unfortunately for Chihiro the window on the second floor was unarmored and bugs were trying their damnedest to get out and were only being held off by the girls on the ground. There was no way she was going to get by the window. Weighing her options she decided maimed was better than dead, so she descended as far as she thought it safe before kicking off the wall and letting go of the rope, falling almost three stories to the ground. She did her best to twist around in the air before tucking and rolling as she hit the ground. In spite of her efforts she managed to injure her right leg.

Chihiro was quickly picked up off of the ground by Yomi as the group moved to flee the insect infested building. But in the predawn light the girls were sitting ducks with no cover and to complicate matters now they had two girls incapable of effectively moving. Chihiro cursed and blamed herself for the situation as she had effectively demolished most every car nearby. The group was forced to move painstakingly slowly to the car Yomi, Chiyo, and Sakaki left behind. While Chiyo and Chihiro were struggling to move Yomi and Sakaki were doing their best to down the bugs as they approached the vulnerable group. With each passing moment things turned more and more bleak with the girls being surrounded by bugs and still far from any sort of cover at all.

"Get down!" Chihiro said as she fell into a prone position. Chiyo immediately followed after while Yomi and Sakaki were hesitant. "I said get down!" she ordered as she retrieved the detonator Chiyo had handed her only minutes earlier. As soon as Sakaki and Yomi hit the ground Chihiro hit the switch on the detonator. Obeying the signal from the detonator large bombs placed on all four floors of the apartment went off engulfing the building in a huge explosion that sent chunks of rubble flying in all directions. The explosion surely killed all the bugs lying within the structure while the flying debris from the explosion killed several more, and almost the girls themselves as a large chunk from the building landed no more than two meters from the girls. Much like the car bomb several days earlier this explosion sent all the nearby bugs into hiding.

Now with the path clear the girls once more scrambled to their feet and made their way to the overturned car. This time since cover fire wasn't needed Sakaki was able to carry Chiyo while Yomi helped Chihiro support her weight and they made it to the car in no time. Once they had gotten there though Chiyo pointed to a nearby van that was, somehow, upside down. "That would be more secure," she reasoned. The rest of the group agreed and moved to the vehicle and although it was unlocked because it was upside down the doors had been wedged shut. The girls were forced to crawl through the broken windscreen as they piled into the back of the van. Its lack of windows made the van at least somewhat secure, but still the bugs could easily crawl in the same way they did. As the girls were huddled in the back of the van they were praying for daybreak to come before the bugs could find them. Their prayer went unanswered. They watched in muted horror as a bug crawling in front of the van stopped and looked right at them. As the insect prepared to give a battle cry and charge it was suddenly tackled and attacked. Its assailant was none other than another bug and the assailant brought friends. In all three bugs joined the first in killing the insect that had spotted them and after gorging themselves on it for a short time they worked together in carrying off the corpse out of the view of the girls.

Shortly after the bizarre event dawn finally broke and the girls were able to breathe a sigh of relief. They tentatively crawled out of the van and looked on at the rubble that had been their shelter. "Damn it! Damn it all!" Chihiro lamented over the loss of the structure as she threw the now useless detonator at the rubble. She then turned her venomous glare to Yomi. "I thought you said they didn't nest!? Why the hell did they take over my home?!" she angrily demanded.

Yomi, amazingly, kept her temper in check. "Sakaki was right," she sedately admitted, "They are social. They build nests. I can't believe it."

Sakaki moved to the still angry Chihiro. "Sit down," she asked her, "let me see your foot." Chihiro complied as she tried to get everything in perspective.

Yomi soon joined Chihiro, also sitting and resting against the van. "What do we do now?" she wondered aloud.

Chiyo spoke up, "We need to go to someplace with a decent lab, or at the very least some lab equipment!" They had been meaning to get Chiyo someplace so she could work on a vaccine.

"That will have to wait," Chihiro informed her, "First thing is first. We need more ammo and supplies." Sakaki nodded in agreement as she informed Chihiro that there probably were no broken bones.

"Do you know where to go?" Yomi asked her voice still listless.

"There is a place," Chihiro started, "its not far, but to get there we'll need a car, or some crutches, or something."

Yomi climbed back to her feet and started walking off. "I'll find something," she said her voice still hollow.

Sakaki left after her, "You'll be okay here?" she asked the gimpy duo. Sakaki received reassurances from them and was on her way. Awhile after she caught up to Yomi, Sakaki asked the woman if she had any ideas as they wandered about. Yomi just shook her head. "What's wrong?" Sakaki asked. Yomi didn't answer. Fed up with the queer behavior Sakaki put a hand on Yomi shoulder to stop her then turned Yomi to face herself. "You aren't yourself. What is the matter?" Sakaki demanded. Yomi remained silent as she shied away from Sakaki's stare. "Yomi, answer me!" Sakaki demanded in a harsh tone.

"I-I'm…" Yomi stammered, "I'm tired, Sakaki."

"Tired?" Sakaki asked skeptically. With that Yomi tried to break away from Sakaki's grip but Sakaki held firm. "Talk to me," Sakaki insisted.

Never raising her gaze to meet Sakaki's Yomi mumbled. "I don't know how much more I can take, Sakaki. I'm tired of almost being killed every other day. I've reached my limit." She admitted.

"You…You can't think like that!" Sakaki insisted, "You need to be strong!" Yomi shook her head as she finally looked at Sakaki.

"I'm tired." Yomi repeated, "I'm tired of being strong, I'm tired of living like this! I think it might be easier to just be weak." Yomi's head suddenly snapped to the side as a red handprint started to form.

"Don't you dare think like that!" Sakaki scolded, "We need your help. I…I need you."

Yomi quickly turned her back to Sakaki and started walking again. "We need to find something for Chiyo and Chihiro," Yomi said dismissively.

--Back at the overturned van--

The entire time Sakaki and Yomi were gone Chiyo and Chihiro sat together in silence. Chihiro plagued by the whole situation while Chiyo lamented over the loss of her laptop. The taller duo returned less than an hour after departing riding a scooter. Upon seeing them Chiyo jumped up and waved to them. "You guys found a scooter!" she exclaimed as Sakaki shut off the engine.

"Will it do?" Sakaki asked with a little uncertainty.

Chihiro nodded as she struggled to her feet. "It'll do just fine. We should be on our way," she mentioned as she hobbled her way over to the vehicle.

As Sakaki and Yomi dismounted the vehicle Yomi spoke up. "Couldn't we eat breakfast first?" she asked. Chiyo couldn'thelp but notice the red handprint on Yomi's face.

Chihiro shook her head, "Unless you have some food stowed away somewhere we've nothing to eat."

A suddenly distraught Yomi quickly started digging through her bag and actually started cry when she found no food. "Sakaki?" she asked hopeful the taller girl would have something, but she just shook her head.

Chiyo looked back and forth between Yomi and Sakaki wondering why Sakaki would slap her. Never in her life had Chiyo seen Sakaki raise her hand against anyone. She was only vaguely aware of the situation as she mounted the scooter behind Chihiro and the group set out. All that kept running through the girl's mind was scenario after scenario in which Yomi would get slapped by Sakaki. None of them made sense.

A/N: And the action returns! Though to be honest I'm not entirely happy with it. Those of you who cannot see what will happen in the next chapter need corrective lenses. I've been waiting forever for what comes next to fall into place, even though I can already see that writing it is truely going to be a living hell.


	9. Convergence

A/N: Finally, I finished this chapter. It's definitely not my best work, but nothing can be done about that, I suppose. This is by far the longest chapter so far, but it also doesn't get much done. I do hope you enjoy it though. Please keep in mind the scene changes that are just names all start at the same time.

--Shortly before noon a small group of women approach a large, unassuming building--

"This is the place," Chihiro shouted over the sound of the scooter's engine. After pulling up onto the curb and shutting off the engine Chiyo got off of the vehicle while Chihiro waited for Yomi to help her off. In the hours since the fall her ankle had swollen noticeably and was quite a pain for Chihiro.

Sakaki stared at the old structure. "There are weapons here?" she asked.

"Yeah," Chihiro assured her, "the Yakuza used this place."

Yomi stopped before trying to help Chihiro off of the scooter. "This place is probably infested," Yomi reasoned, "Maybe you and Chiyo should wait here so Sakaki and I can make sure it's safe."

Chihiro shook her head. "The extra guns will help if there is trouble," she assured Yomi. Chihiro then pointed to an alley. "This building actually has a generator. We should get that running and with some luck we'll have plenty of light inside," she informed the group.

"Chihiro," Chiyo started, "if this place has a store of weapons and a generator why didn't you just stay here?"

"You'll see," Chihiro replied cryptically as the group began making their way into the alley.

The group cautiously made their way through the dark alley and had to break through a chain link fence to get to the aforementioned generator. Just as Chihiro mentioned, it was obvious as to why this building was unsuitable for Chihiro to have stayed in. A large section of the wall just past the generator had collapsed leaving a gaping hole that bugs could easily crawl in and out of. Yomi helped Chihiro to the generator then stepped back and joined the other girls in making sure no bugs ambushed them in the dark alley.

"After this where do we go?" Chiyo asked as Chihiro fiddled with the generator.

"I don't know," Chihiro admitted, "You're the genius. You should know where a good lab is." Shortly after replying the generator roared to life and an artificial light shone through the collapsed wall. "There we go!" Chihiro exclaimed as Yomi once more helped her to walk.

Yomi motioned toward the collapsed wall, "Let's go in that way. It's a lot closer." The rest of the girls agreed and the group traversed the rubble and into the building.

--At about that time--

A truck carrying four women pulled up in front of a very familiar building. Shutting off the vehicle's engine Kaorin stepped out and pointed to the building. "This is the place!" she announced to the other girls who then started climbing out of the truck.

After jumping out of the truck bed Kagura eyed the unassuming building skeptically. "You're sure this is the right place?" she asked.

"Yeah," Kaorin assured her as the group gathered at the building's door, "this is some kind of weird warehouse. The weapons are in the back and everything else just seems to be random items." Kaorin cautiously opened the door as the group prepared to shoot anything that would lurch out at them. With no immediate threat the women breathed a sigh of relief as they turned on their flashlights and prepared to enter the structure.

Kagura noticed that Osaka hadn't turned on the large flashlight she was holding. "Osaka, turn your light on," she reminded her.

"Oh, right," Osaka observed as she turned on the bulky light. The second the flashlight turned on the entire building was bathed in light.

"Wow!" Tomo exclaimed.

Kagura looked to the inside of the building and back to Osaka's light. "That was amazing! Can you do it again?" Kagura eagerly asked. The two girls watched with childlike wonder as Osaka turned the light off and back on again. Much to the disappointment of the trio, it didn't seem to do anything.

"Don't be stupid!" Kaorin scolded, "Someone just turned on the lights, that's all."

Kaorin cautiously stepped into the building and motioned for the others to follow her. The interior contained row after row of seemingly random items that had been gathering more than a little dust. Looking at all the strange things Kagura was a little unnerved. "This place is kinda creepy," she said in a low voice.

Tomo nodded. "Yeah, but at least there aren't any bugs," she replied also in a hushed tone.

"That just makes it creepier," Kagura admitted.

Their conversation was cut short when Kaorin started to walk past one of the rows of items and came under fire. She quickly took cover as she cursed. "We're human!" she shouted at their assailants, "Hold your fire!"

An unseen voice apologized, "Sorry! Mistaken identity!"

Kaorin was about to expose herself again when Kagura held her back. "I don't trust them," Kagura said seriously. Gripping her gun tightly Kagura quickly jumped out from behind their cover with her rifle at the ready. The trio watched as Kagura's demeanor quickly changed from a very serious look to complete shock. "No way," she breathed as she actually dropped her gun.

"Kagura!" the trio heard several voices recognize their friend. They quickly looked to one another before scrambling out from their cover to see just who it was. Both groups stood staring in disbelief at each other.

"Yomi!" Tomo shouted in disbelief as she quickly closed the distance between them and nearly knocked Yomi over as Tomo hugged her old friend.

Yomi returned the hug, dropping Chihiro in the process. "Tomo…Tomo you're alive?" she asked still not quite believing the situation.

Tomo broke the embrace and confidently pointed at herself. "Like some stupid bugs were going to kill me!" she boasted.

Yomi's attitude quickly turned. "Then where the hell were you?!" Yomi screamed at Tomo, "Sakaki and I looked everywhere for you!"

As Tomo and Yomi shared their normal back and forth Kaorin descended upon Chihiro. "Chihiro…Chihiro are you okay?!" Kaorin asked the downed woman.

"Kaorin, I never thought I'd see you again," Chihiro said seriously.

Noticing Kaorin's still concerned look Chihiro reassured her that she was all right. "I took a bad fall, but Sakaki says that it's just a sprain. I'll be fine," Chihiro reassured her.

"That's not what I meant!" Kaorin cried as she sat down next to Chihiro.

Chihiro stared dumbly at Kaorin trying to think of what she could be talking about. "I'm fine Kaorin, really," she assured her friend once more.

Kaorin looked sympathetically at her best friend's scarred face. "If you say so, Chihiro," Kaorin said a little sadly.

--Kagura, Sakaki, Chiyo, and Osaka--

As Tomo and Kaorin reunited with Yomi and Chihiro respectively the rest of the groups converged together as well. "Wow," Kagura marveled, "I can't believe you all are okay!"

"This…This is impossible," Chiyo said in disbelief as she looked around at the entire clique, "How is it that we have all survived?"

Osaka answered her, "It's fate."

Sakaki also spoke up. "I'm glad. To see you all again," she said sincerely.

Kagura took the time to retrieve her weapon before rejoining the group. "This is the best luck we've had so far!" Kagura exclaimed, "You guys have gotta join us!"

Chiyo nodded, "That'd be great! We could use your help."

"So why are you guys here?" Kagura inquired.

"We came here to gather up some supplies before we set out to find shelter," Chiyo answered her.

At that Kagura grinned widely. "You guys don't need to worry about shelter! There's plenty of room at the police station," she announced. "We came here to get stuff too. So we can drive the bugs out of Japan," Kagura continued.

Chiyo moved to ask Chihiro on what they should do, but upon seeing her still preoccupied with Kaorin she just sighed. "A police station would be okay for now, but-"

"Come on Sakaki!" Kagura excitedly announced, no longer paying even the slightest attention to Chiyo, "Kaorin said the guns and stuff were in the back!" Kagura ushered Sakaki away to start gathering the supplies leaving just Chiyo and Osaka standing there.

"Chiyo, you look like hell," Osaka observed.

Chiyo looked to her still bandaged arms and leg. "These wounds were really serious when I received them, but now they are healing up quite well so you don't need to worry," Chiyo said with a smile to reassure her friend.

"Did a bug get'cha?" Osaka asked the small woman.

"Yeah, I killed it though," Chiyo mused, "You're lucky Osaka. It doesn't look like you have a scratch on you!"

Osaka nodded. "I'm not hurt 'cause Kagura protected me," she explained.

"Kagura was your roommate, right?" Chiyo asked, "Were Tomo and Kaorin with the two of you this entire time as well?"

"No," Osaka said as she shook her head, "We met them 'bout a month ago." Osaka then pointed to her camcorder. "I can show ya if ya wanna see it," she said, "I have tha tape out in tha truck."

Chiyo looked around to see most everyone else catching up with their old friends as well. "Sure Osaka," Chiyo said with a sincere smile.

As the two were making their way to the aforementioned vehicle Osaka quickly noticed that Chiyo was having some trouble keeping up with her damaged leg. "Do ya need some help?" Osaka offered.

Chiyo offered her a strained smile. "It's still hard to move around," she explained, "If it's not too much trouble…" Osaka nodded in understanding and moved to help Chiyo along. Unfortunately for the duo they were unable to make it two steps before they fell over each other and landed flat on their faces.

"Are you two okay?" Kagura asked as she was carrying a box of supplies back to the truck.

The two managed to sit up and assert that they were unhurt. "Can ya help us get ta tha truck?" Osaka asked the athletic girl, "Chiyo can't move that well."

"Sure," Kagura offered as she looked for a place to set down the box. Spying Sakaki approaching, also carrying a box of supplies, Kagura walked over to her. "I need to help Chiyo to the truck, so can you carry this one as well?" Kagura asked the tall girl.

"Actually this is really heavy," Sakaki started to protest, but Kagura, completely ignoring Sakaki, placed the extra box on top of the one Sakaki was already carrying, nearly causing her to fall over. Kagura then moved to Chiyo and threw the small woman over her shoulder as she made her way, along with Osaka, to their vehicle. Poor Sakaki struggled to follow after them with both heavy boxes in her arms.

Once outside, Kagura helped Chiyo into the truck cab while Osaka grabbed her things from the truck bed. After climbing back out of the cab Kagura motioned to a still struggling Sakaki. "Over here! Sakaki!" Kagura hollered as she moved to the rear of the vehicle and lowered the tailgate. It took a minute of struggling toward the vehicle before Kagura realized Sakaki needed help. Kagura quickly closed the distance and took the box she had placed there earlier. "Sorry," Kagura offered as the two made their way to the truck and loaded the cargo onboard. Their task completed Kagura set out once more toward the building. "Come on, Sakaki," Kagura said, patting her shoulder roughly as she walked by. Sakaki looked hopelessly after her before reluctantly following after.

Just after Kagura and Sakaki walked off Osaka climbed into the cab next to Chiyo. Osaka triumphantly held up a memory stick. "This is tha one," she announced. She loaded the device into her camcorder and started playing it. "We didn't meet them until later," she explained as she fast forwarded to the good parts.

--Kaorin and Chihiro--

"I'm glad you've made it this far, Kaorin," Chihiro sincerely told her best friend.

Kaorin shook her head. "You have _no idea_ how glad I am to see you!" Kaorin exclaimed, "I was going to go insane if I had to stay with those three any longer!"

Chihiro gave a little chuckle. "I take it you don't get along well with them?" she inquired.

"Osaka is a good person even if she is a little…very strange," Kaorin explained, "And Tomo might be really irritating but she's not nearly as bad as Kagura."

Chihiro looked thoughtful for a minute before responding. "Wasn't Kagura really popular back in high school?" she asked trying to dislodge the old memories from her mind.

Kaorin scoffed. "She might have been the star of the swim team, but Sakaki is _way_ cooler!" Kaorin stated matter-of-factly, "Sakaki is better than Kagura at almost everything!"

Chihiro adopted a lopsided grin as she eyed her friend critically. "Could it be that Kaori is still carrying a torch for Sakaki?" she teased her friend.

"N-N-No!" Kaorin sputtered out as she began blushing, "It's nothing like that!"

Chihiro's grin only grew wider as she continued to taunt Kaorin. "You're blushing," she informed Kaorin. Kaorin responded by dumbly covering her face with her hands, as if she could somehow hide it. "Oi! Sakaki!" Chihiro called out to the tall girl as she was passing by alongside Kagura, "Kaorin mmph!"

Her words were cut short by Kaorin clamping her hand over Chihiro's mouth. "It's nothing!" Kaorin assured Sakaki as Chihiro struggled to get free. While skeptical, Sakaki let it pass as she moved to catch up to Kagura. With Sakaki gone Kaorin let a still smiling Chihiro go. "So I still like her," Kaorin admitted, "Don't tell her okay?"

Chihiro gave a sigh as her smile faded away. "I won't tell her," she promised, "but you should."

The two fell into silence for a short time before Chihiro spoke up. "Kaorin," she started in a much more serious tone, "if I found a helicopter could you repair it? Get it into working order?"

Kaorin thought about it for a minute before responding. "Yeah, probably," Kaorin explained, "But I'm really better with airplanes. To fix a helicopter would take a lot of effort from everyone and even if we did get one to work safely no one here can fly it."

"I can fly a chopper," Chihiro assured her.

"Even still," Kaorin rationalized, "I think it would be more trouble than it's worth. I mean we could get around more easily but it would be very difficult to get one working and keep it in working order."

"What if," Chihiro started, "I told you I know where to find an attack helicopter, an _armed_ helicopter?"

Kaorin's gaze fell to the floor. "Then I'd tell you I can't help," Kaorin admitted, "Helicopters aren't exactly my forte and military stuff is a far cry from commercial."

"What about a plane?" Chihiro asked.

"What, you can fly airplanes now too?" Kaorin asked irately, "What else can you do that I don't know about?"

Chihiro shied away from Kaorin's angry stare. "I know I haven't really been forthcoming with you in the past…" Chihiro began to apologize but was quickly cut off by Kaorin.

"You were never there when I needed you!" Kaorin yelled at her so-called best friend, "You were _always_ busy with that stupid job of yours!"

"I'm sorry, Kaorin," Chihiro repented, "I don't have a job anymore and now I'm here. Please forgive me?"

Kaorin crossed her arms over her chest and did her best to appear angry. "Fine," she scoffed, "but if we both survive all this I'm _so_ going to tear you a new one."

Chihiro suppressed a smile that threatened to appear. "Deal," she said.

--Tomo and Yomi--

"Sakaki and I really did look for you," Yomi told Tomo in a much calmer tone.

Tomo looked thoughtful for a moment. "Where did you look?" she dumbly asked.

"We went to your house and the police station!" Yomi shouted at her, once more irritated at her oldest friend, "We looked for you for three days!" Tomo shook her head.

"I don't know," she told Yomi, "Taro and I stuck around the police station after we met the first bug."

"You…You didn't come looking for me?" Yomi asked Tomo apprehensively. Tomo looked down as she shook her head. "We looked for people nearby, but when we didn't find anyone I sort of…or we…we just gave up on finding anyone." Yomi sighed. It was a good excuse. But still, Yomi couldn't help but feel disappointed that Tomo didn't come to look for her. "So Yomi," Tomo asked her friend, "where have you been up until now?"

"Sakaki and I have been a few places," Yomi mused. "Where should I begin?" she asked herself.

"You should begin at the beginning," Tomo informed her.

Yomi couldn't help but smile, "How elegant." Yomi then closed her eyes and remembered back to the days immediately following the outbreak.

--Flashback--

A furious Yomi threw her radio against her apartment's wall. "How did everything fall apart so quickly?" her mind raced. Just a few days ago a horrible virus began spreading and already the power was out, there was no internet, no phone service, and now there weren't even any radio transmissions anymore. Everything had fallen apart. Yomi was truly lost as to what she should do. She didn't know if any of the people she cared about were well or not. Television and radio broadcasts, before they had gone out, were warning everyone to stay indoors and to isolate themselves from anyone who may have had the mysterious new disease. From what Yomi had gathered the virus spread rapidly and had already spread worldwide, but it had defiantly started here. If the broadcasts were to be believed, to contract the disease was a certain death sentence. The terrible illness apparently caused its poor victims to die from internal bleeding. Hospitals wouldn't even admit anyone who was suspected to be infected saying that nothing could be done to save them. Yomi took the reports very seriously from the very start. Yomi had followed the instructions and had not been outside her apartment in days, but for two days now she had not heard the slightest of utterance from another human being. To make matters worse without electricity she was now completely out of food. So Yomi was left with an impossible conundrum: stay, or leave? She'd been fretting over what the best course of action could be since her radio stopped receiving signals. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she didn't have anything left to eat. Yomi didn't have much of a choice, with no food she had to leave to at least find more sustenance. Not to mention the prospect of seeing her friends and family was also at the forefront of her mind.

Steeling herself against the fears of dying of that horrible disease Yomi forced herself to leave her apartment. As she stepped out her neighbor's door caught her eye. Yomi hadn't heard a peep from her in days. She hesitantly moved to the door and knocked. Receiving no response she pounded more heavily on the door and yelled out her neighbor's name. Still not hearing anything from within, she tried the handle. It was unlocked. She held the door firm, afraid to open it. It took her several minutes to work up the courage to open the door. As she stepped inside she was assaulted with a terrible odor. Immediately losing her nerve she turned to leave. Holding onto some glimmer of hope Yomi called out her neighbor's name once more, and once more her cries were met with silence. No longer able to control her fears she left the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Yomi's mind and heart were racing as she tried to figure out what to do now. The idea of seeing her neighbor dead horrified her, but even more frightening was the prospect of her contracting the disease. Deciding to go find food and to find out just what the situation was, Yomi made for her car at a brisk pace. Yomi was taken aback at the sight she saw as she rounded the corner of her building. The street was cluttered with empty cars, some of them quite banged up. Even queerer was the fact that there wasn't a sign of a soul. Not one single person, not even a corpse. The already frazzled woman was even more unnerved by this prospect. Yomi tried not to think too much into it as she moved to her car, got in, and started off.

Yomi had no idea where to go so she drove aimlessly, although one could do little more than that with the roads being so cluttered. Time and time again Yomi was forced to turn around and take another road as her pathway was blocked. It was unbelievable. Yomi hadn't seen a single person or a single body. If not for the occasional stray animal the streets were completely devoid of life. "Millions of people can't just disappear!" Yomi reasoned aloud. Ever more frantic Yomi tried to think of where to go. "Where could everyone be?" her mind raced. Coming to another completely blocked road Yomi stopped, but this time she did not move to turn the car around and go around. She just sat in her car and tried to think of what she should do. As her thoughts wondered she tried in vain to once more to find a radio frequency someone would be transmitting on. After listening to static for the longest time Yomi finally decided on a course of action. Even with the clustered streets Tomo wasn't too far away. Yomi hoped and prayed she'd find Tomo to be alright. At this point Yomi hoped she would find _anyone_. She set off once more, but didn't make it far. As she turned a corner she swerved to avoid a dog and crashed into an abandoned vehicle. Luckily for Yomi she was uninjured, although the same could not be said for her car. The bespectacled woman sat hunched over the steering wheel in a state of shock and despair. "Damn it!" Yomi cursed as she began crying, "Damn it all!"

It took Yomi a long time before she got herself together, but her unrelenting hunger wouldn't let her stay where she was. Yomi angrily exited the car as she put off going to find Tomo in place of the more urgent matter of finding food for herself. Looking around she found the area to be quite familiar. Yomi knew where she was going to go and set out on foot to her destination. On her way she discovered that getting around on foot was probably faster, not to mention much less dangerous, than driving. After hiking a couple of blocks she found the structure she had sought, an apartment building not too different from her own. She slowly approached a familiar door but was unable to muster the courage to knock. Yomi's thoughts ran wild as she thought of what could be. "She's probably dead," Yomi reasoned as she turned to walk away, but before she could take a step her stomach reminded her once more of her reason for coming here. Deciding she should at least go in and find something to eat Yomi put the thoughts of what could have become of her friend to the back of her mind as she moved to the doorknob. When she tried to turn it, however, she found the door to be locked. Frustrated, Yomi pulled and yanked on the door, but to no avail. She then furiously pounded on the door, also to little effect. As she was preparing to try and kick the door down Yomi heard fumbling from within. She knocked again, though this time much more mannerly. "Sakaki!" Yomi cried out as she knocked, "Sakaki, are you in there?! Are you okay?!" Yomi's heart pounded heavily in her chest as she heard the door's locks being manipulated. The door opened a crack before being stopped by the door chain.

"Who is it?" the voice from within tentatively asked.

"It's me, Yomi!" Yomi asserted.

"Are…Are you sick?" the woman asked Yomi.

"What? No, I'm not sick," Yomi assured her.

The door closed for a second before reopening revealing a disheveled Sakaki desperately clutching Mayaa to her chest. "Get inside, quickly!" Sakaki urged Yomi.

Following her friend's instructions Yomi made her way inside as Sakaki slammed the door shut and worked the locks again. "I don't think you have to worry," Yomi assured Sakaki, "There's no one out there. You're the first person I've seen." Sakaki shook her head and was about to speak when Yomi's stomach spoke once more. "I hate to impose…" Yomi begged as she gave Sakaki her most pathetic look. Sakaki complied and ushered Yomi into her kitchen.

"There's not much left," Sakaki stated as she opened a cabinet showing Yomi what little food she had remaining. Yomi unscrupulously grabbed the nearest item and began gorging herself. "I'm glad to see you are alright," Sakaki said sincerely, "I thought everyone was dead."

"I thought everyone had left for somewhere," Yomi said as she took a break from stuffing her face, "I didn't see anyone, not even a body."

"No," Sakaki informed her, "they were…everyone was eaten by those…those _things_."

Yomi set down the box of snacks and turned to Sakaki. "W-What things?" she asked her a little unnerved.

"You haven't seen them?!" Sakaki asked Yomi in disbelief, "Haven't heard them?!"

Yomi shook her head. "What is it?" a concerned Yomi inquired.

Sakaki's gaze fell as she clenched Mayaa tighter. "The bugs," Sakaki replied, "They weren't just a rumor. They are real. I've seen them."

Yomi shook her head. "How big are they?" Yomi asked, "They can't be that big, it's impossible."

Sakaki kept her gaze locked on the floor, "They are…big…bigger than people."

Yomi took the time to glance around Sakaki's apartment. "Are we really safe from them in here?" Yomi asked her host. Sakaki shook her head. "Then what do we do?!" Yomi demanded. Sakaki didn't move to respond in any way.

After standing under Yomi's gaze for some time Sakaki made her way across her apartment to her couch and sat down as she released Mayaa from her embrace. Yomi followed after Sakaki and sat down next to her. "I want to try and see if I can't find people," Yomi quietly suggested, "I want to know if Tomo and everyone made it."

"Osaka and Kagura," Sakaki started as she hugged herself, "They got sick. I called them before the phones died."

Yomi silently cursed as she tried to dispel the unhappy thoughts from her mind. "Do you…Do you know what happened to Tomo or Chiyo?" Yomi asked tentatively.

"I received an E-mail from Chiyo," Sakaki informed Yomi, "She said the illness was there too, but she was not sick. I don't know what happened to Tomo."

"I need to think," Yomi informed Sakaki as she got up and went to the kitchen again, this time to find something to drink. Sakaki was happy that someone she knew was okay, but she was still fearful as to what their future held.

"What should we do?" Sakaki asked her guest.

"We can't sit here forever," Yomi reasoned, "I want to find Tomo. Is there any place you want to go?"

Sakaki shook her head even though Yomi couldn't see her. "I just…want to be safe," Sakaki stated.

"Then we should go find Tomo," Yomi announced, "We should get going as soon as possible."

"No," Sakaki protested, "we should leave tomorrow. Bugs are more active at night."

Yomi walked back into the room munching from that same box of snacks. "Then let's get ready and leave tomorrow morning," Yomi reasoned.

--The following morning--

The night had been long for Yomi. Sakaki pointed out the sounds of the bugs for her and paranoia had gotten the better of her. The tired and still somewhat worried Yomi walked alongside Sakaki who was clutching Mayaa to her bosom as before. The two women were making their way through the streets in the direction of Tomo's place.

"Why haven't I seen any bugs?" Yomi questioned aloud.

"They don't usually come out in the daytime," Sakaki informed her.

That was of little relief to Yomi. "Do the bugs...I mean have you seen the bugs ever attack anyone?" Yomi asked the taller woman, "Or do they just eat…dead things?"

Sakaki shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted, "I haven't seen many living people since the virus started."

Yomi's mind raced as they continued on their way. If the bugs were a real threat they would need to defend themselves somehow. The first thought of course would be to obtain guns, but in Japan that's not such an easy task. As Yomi's thoughts raced an object in the middle of the street caught her eye. "Look there," she said as she pointed to what was apparently a military vehicle fitted with large megaphones. It was probably driven around to warn people to stay indoors.

Yomi moved to the vehicle and Sakaki followed after. "What are you doing?" Sakaki questioned as Yomi opened the driver's door and looked inside.

"If bugs are aggressive we need to protect ourselves," Yomi explained as she moved to the back of the vehicle, "Hopefully we can find some guns." As Yomi opened the rear door the duo was assaulted with a familiar, terrible odor. Inside laid the body of a man wearing a uniform and sitting upright in his seat. Upon seeing the sight Sakaki immediately dropped Mayaa as she covered her face and turned away from the gruesome scene. While taken aback Yomi didn't miss the fact that the man was armed. Noticing Sakaki's demeanor Yomi informed her to wait on the curb before she moved to salvage the dead man's rifle. After retrieving Mayaa Sakaki took a seat on the sidewalk while Yomi performed her morbid task.

It was a couple of minutes before Yomi returned carrying a pack, a rifle, and a pistol. "Here," Yomi said as she offered the pistol to Sakaki.

Sakaki shook her head, "No thanks." Yomi had gotten that pistol from a corpse and if that wasn't disgusting enough that man probably died from the virus.

"Fine," Yomi said as she tucked the pistol into her pants, "Let's go."

The duo set off once more for Tomo's place. They made their way uneventfully for several hours before Yomi elected that they stop to eat and Sakaki made the argument that they should try to find food instead of eating the little they had brought with them. With that in mind they continued on their way until they came across a convenience store, which didn't take long. They were unprepared for the sights and smells of rotting food inside the store. Despite the disgusting odor they began gathering supplies, but were soon disturbed by a terrifying sound.

"We should leave," Sakaki warned as the two slowly began to exit the store. As they turned to leave they saw the thing that would haunt them for months to come. There stood a gigantic, sickly white bug that was glaring at them voraciously. Upon seeing the creature Sakaki let out a shriek and nearly crushed poor Mayaa as she hugged him so tightly.

It took a moment for Yomi's mind to remember the rifle in her hands, but as she tried to pull the trigger it wouldn't budge. The bug lunged at the two women as Yomi desperately fiddled with the trigger. As the bug descended upon them Yomi abandoned her rifle, drew the pistol, and opened fire on the beast. Upon the first shot the insect staggered, but it took the entire clip of ammunition for the bug to collapse.

"Let's…Let's go," Yomi insisted. As Yomi went to move around the corpse of the bug she realized Sakaki was not following after her. The poor woman was simply standing there staring at the scene in a complete state of shock. Yomi had to make her way back to her friend, take her hand, and had to practically drag her out of the store.

Yomi ignored her desire to eat; instead she focused her attention on getting away from that store. She no longer had to drag Sakaki along as she had recovered, somewhat. The poor girl was still shaking terribly and her breathing uneven. After they managed to get far enough away that Yomi felt safe she sat down and motioned for Sakaki to do the same.

They had been able to get some food into Sakaki's pack before they were forced to leave, so Yomi moved to get the supplies out of the pack. "They are real," Yomi relented as she struggled to open a package, "That was terrifying."

Sakaki didn't respond as she set the cat down and laid out some food for him before grabbing something for herself. A few minutes into their meal something happened that was perhaps far more frightening than a bug. Yomi broke into a coughing fit and after it had passed she found her palms flecked with blood. Sakaki had also noticed it and was unable to help herself as she jumped up and away from Yomi. "Yomi…" Sakaki started, but didn't know what to say.

Yomi just hugged herself as she shook her head, trying desperately to ignore the horror of the situation. "No…no, no, no, no, no…" Yomi repeated over and over in disbelief.

Sakaki wanted to comfort her, but she was terrified at the possibility of getting the disease too. "Yomi, we should get you someplace safe," Sakaki offered, "And we need to find medicine so-"

"No," Yomi cut her off. "There's no reason for you to die too," she reasoned, "Go find a safe place on your own."

Sakaki shook her head. "What if it's not the same disease? You might not die!" Sakaki protested, "You can't give up." In a brazen, and foolish, move Sakaki moved to Yomi and helped her up. "Come on," she insisted, "Let's get you to a safe place."

Yomi pushed Sakaki away. "Don't be stupid!" she scolded, "If you try to help me you'll just die too!"

Sakaki moved to Yomi again and began dragging her off with Mayaa right behind. "I don't care," Sakaki boldly stated.

Sakaki found a small house they could take up residence in. She put Yomi into a bed and asked if she could do anything for her. "Sakaki," Yomi responded, "If…When I die, and if you don't die. Please, I want you to find Tomo. If you find her, tell her I'm sorry."

Sakaki shook her head, "You are not going to die." "Please," Yomi begged, "promise me."

--Back to the present--

"You're sorry for what?" Tomo asked, interrupting Yomi's story.

Yomi was surprised she had made it this far in her story before Tomo interrupted her. "That fight we had," Yomi explained, "Back before the outbreak."

"Well it _was_ your fault!" Tomo taunted her.

"Do you even remember what it was about?!" Yomi retorted.

Tomo looked thoughtful for sometime before boldly responding, "Nope! But it was _defiantly_ your fault!"

"You idiot!" Yomi scolded. Tomo didn't seem to even notice the insult.

"You really got sick?" she questioned her oldest friend, "Did you die?"

Yomi sweatdropped. She wished that she could say that was dumbest thing she had ever heard Tomo say, but alas it was not. "Obviously not!" Yomi pointed out.

"So what happened?" Tomo inquired. "I was really sick and so I don't really remember a whole lot," Yomi admitted. "Sakaki went out and got medicine from a pharmacy for me and she took care of me while I was sick," she recalled, "I almost died, but after a few days I started getting better and after that we took off again."

"To look for me?" Tomo inquired. Yomi nodded.

--Flashback--

Yomi finally felt well enough for the duo to continue on their way. They were once again walking down the abandoned streets heading in the direction of Tomo's neighborhood. "Thanks again, Sakaki," Yomi praised the woman who probably had saved her life.

Sakaki was blushing a little as she shook her head. "I couldn't…just leave you to die," she insisted.

"I wonder," Yomi mused aloud, "why you didn't get sick."

Sakaki had wondered that as well for days. "I think I already had it," she told Yomi, "A few days before you showed up I got a little sick, but it wasn't really serious."

Yomi shook her head as she toyed with her rifle. She didn't entirely believe Sakaki at the time. After all, how could a disease that deadly only cause minor symptoms? "I survived, could Osaka and Kagura have made it too?" Yomi pondered.

"Maybe," Sakaki said simply. She didn't sound like it, but that thought had filled her with hope for her good friends. "After we find Tomo, can we look for Kagura and Osaka?" Sakaki asked her companion.

Yomi nodded, "Of course." With that the duo fell into silence as Yomi continued to fidget with her rifle. She had found out why it hadn't fired when they had encountered that bug in the convenience store. The safety had been on. It was a stupid move on Yomi's part and it had almost cost them their lives. She really didn't know anything about guns, but she wanted to rip that stupid switch off of the gun so that couldn't happen again.

After a couple of hours of walking the duo had made it to Tomo's neighborhood and a little while longer they had come upon Tomo's apartment building. Yomi was struck with nearly overwhelming anxiety as they approached Tomo's door. "Please," Yomi silently prayed, "let her be okay." It took a minute for Yomi to build up the courage to knock on the door. There was no response. Yomi felt her chest constrict more with each passing moment. Finally unable to stand it any longer Yomi desperately pounded on the door. "Tomo!" she cried out, "Tomo are you in there?!"

After pounding on the door for a time Sakaki moved to stop Yomi's actions. Sakaki then tried the doorknob and the door opened. Yomi was unable to make a move so Sakaki led the way into Tomo's apartment. After Sakaki had gone inside Yomi followed tentatively after. There were no signs of anyone being there anytime recently. Sakaki stood in the middle of the room looking around at the messy place. "Maybe she left," Sakaki proposed.

Yomi wasn't quite convinced as she moved to the rear of the apartment towards the bedroom and bathroom. As Yomi checked the bathroom Sakaki went to the bedroom. After finding the room abandoned, Yomi was exiting the bathroom she heard a familiar shriek and rushed to where she knew Sakaki was. As she came to the wide-open bedroom door Yomi found a bug on top of Sakaki about to bite her. Without hesitation Yomi brought her rifle to bear and unloaded into the bug. The large beast collapsed onto Sakaki and Yomi rushed to free her from the corpse. After toppling the carcass off of Sakaki, Yomi helped her up. "Are you okay?" Yomi asked the traumatized woman. She didn't respond, instead she staggered off looking for Mayaa. Yomi looked from the carcass of the bug to Tomo's bed. "If Tomo was here…" Yomi thought mournfully.

Yomi left the bedroom and made her way out of the apartment. Sakaki was waiting for her just outside the apartment. Sakaki was again clutching Mayaa to her chest and shaking like a leaf, but Yomi paid her little mind as she walked past. "Come on, Sakaki," she insisted, "She might be at the police station or something." Sakaki obediently followed after. In spite of her brave face, Sakaki could tell that Yomi was very close to breaking down.

As they made their way toward the police station Yomi constantly yelled Tomo's name. And by the time they got to their destination Yomi was nearly hysterical. She rushed into the station crying out Tomo's name. Sakaki for her part only followed sedately after her friend. It didn't take long for Yomi to go through the entire building and to her horror it was completely empty. Yomi finally stopped running around. "She's not here," she said listlessly.

"Yomi," Sakaki said as she moved to comfort her companion. As soon as Sakaki touched her, Yomi turned into her and began crying as she hugged Sakaki.

--Back to the present--

"You guys even checked the station?" Tomo asked, interrupting Yomi again.

Yomi had to try her best to keep her temper in check. "I told you already that we did!" she scolded.

"Taro and I spent most of our time at the station," Tomo informed her.

"Then where were you?" Yomi demanded.

Tomo just shrugged, "I dunno!"

"Sakaki and I spent _three_ days there looking for you!" the brunette angrily informed Tomo.

"Well if you had just stayed there Taro and I surely would have found you," Tomo retorted.

"We couldn't stay," Yomi admitted, "I'd promised Sakaki that we would go look for Kagura and Osaka."

"Well you didn't find them either!" Tomo boasted as she gave a victory sign, "_I_ found them!"

Yomi glared daggers at the boisterous woman. "Is that where you were?"

Tomo shook her head, "Nah, those two eventually showed up at the police station."

"Then they found you!" Yomi irately countered.

"I guess," the wildcat reasoned, "So then what happened?"

Yomi stared at Tomo queerly. Why was she so interested in the story? Up until now Tomo had a reason; the story was practically all about her. Yomi shook her head and tried not to think about it.

"I'll give you the short version," Yomi informed her, "Sakaki and I went to find Osaka and Kagura, but we couldn't find them. However we did find an old bomb shelter and we stayed there where it was safe for months. One day though a bug…ummm…a bug _got_ Mayaa and so the next day we went to the ocean so Sakaki could make her peace. We found Chiyo there; she'd been in a fight with a bug and was in pretty bad shape. And then one day a few weeks later it rained and our shelter flooded. We had to flee and ended up with Chihiro. And this morning we got evicted from there by a bunch of bugs. So here we are."

Tomo rolled her eyes, "How boring."

Yomi sat back with a smirk, "Oh? So what's happened to you that's so exciting?"

Tomo looked thoughtful for a minute. "Well nothing cool happened until recently," Tomo admitted, "It started one night when Taro and I had to go rescue Kaorin. But unfortunately…" Yomi watched as Tomo's head fell, and she thought Tomo was actually going to cry. Tomo shook her head and looked back up to Yomi with a straight face. "Unfortunately Taro died leaving only Kaorin and me," the wildcat managed to get out, "After that Kaorin went kind of nuts." Yomi cocked an eyebrow as Tomo unbuttoned her shirt. "Kaorin shot me!" she boasted as she showed Yomi the damaged portion of her vest, "It was really cool!"

Yomi quickly turned and glared daggers at Kaorin, who was obliviously chatting away with Chihiro. "She _shot_ you?" the bespectacled girl questioned Tomo.

The wildcat gave an enthusiastic nod. "After that Kagura beat Kaorin up," Tomo informed her friend, "They still don't get along."

Yomi shot another glare at Kaorin before turning back to Tomo, "What else happened?"

Tomo adopted a huge grin and flashed Yomi a victory sign. "I'm pregnant!" she loudly boasted to Yomi. Yomi's reaction was far from what Tomo had expected. The taller woman's face contorted into an expression of shock and horror.

A/N: Well there it is. The entire group is finally together. I had planned on it actually being longer, but it's practically too long as it is now. Looking over this chapter I think my writing gets better the fewer people I have to focus on at one time.


	10. Midday Blight

--Shortly after noon at a familiar, unassuming building--

"You're certain you're pregnant?" Yomi dubiously asked Tomo.

"She's pregnant all right," Kaorin spoke up in Tomo's place, "She went through like a dozen pregnancy tests."

Yomi turned her gaze back to Tomo. "Who the hell would fu-"

"Yomi," Chihiro interrupted Yomi, "we need to talk to Chiyo, _now_!"

With that the color drained from Yomi's face as she realized the implications. While Kaorin noticed something was amiss almost instantly, even Tomo recognized something was very wrong after only a few seconds. Both Yomi and Chihiro were looking very somber.

"Yomi," Tomo started with worry clear in her voice, "what's wrong?"

Yomi shied away from Tomo's gaze and did her best to change the subject. "Come on," she said listlessly, "We need to get everything loaded up so we can get out of here."

As Yomi moved to help haul gear Tomo stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Yomi talk to me," Tomo begged.

Kaorin was just as alarmed. "You two know something that we don't, what is it?" she inquired.

Chihiro looked to a still unmoving Yomi, to Tomo, and finally to Kaorin before setting her gaze on Yomi once more. "You should tell her, Yomi," Chihiro informed her, "I will if you can't, but she should probably hear it from you."

The situation seemed to be getting worse and worse and still Tomo had no idea what they were talking about. "What is it?!" Tomo demanded as she started panicking, "What's going on?!"

"Tomo, sit down," Yomi ordered. Tomo started to protest but was cut off by Yomi, "Just sit down!" Tomo reluctantly followed Yomi's orders and sat down on a nearby box. Yomi struggled to find the words she needed to say. "Tomo, Chiyo says that…that…" Yomi trailed off still trying to find the right things to say. "Chiyo came here…to Japan to study the bugs. She thinks that it'll be easier to make a vaccine with information from the bugs," she explained to a now perplexed Tomo.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Tomo asked a still conflicted Yomi.

Yomi looked to the floor. "Chiyo says we need a vaccine because…" Yomi took a deep breath before looking back to Tomo. "Chiyo said that newborns contract the virus…and get sick…" Yomi was unable to complete her sentence, but it was clear that Tomo had gotten the message anyway. Tomo leaned forward as her shoulders slumped and her gaze met the ground.

"Tomo," Kaorin offered in a small whisper. Kaorin was about to get up and go to comfort Tomo but Chihiro held Kaorin back as she watched as to what Yomi was going to do.

To everyone's surprise it was the wildcat herself who made the first move. She wiped her forearm across her face and let out a sniffle before sitting up wearing a seemingly sincere smile. "Everything will be alright then, right?" Tomo asked, "Chiyo is a genius! If anyone can fix it, it's her, right?"

Yomi's face went through several emotions, but ended with a small, sad smile. "Yeah, everything's going to be just fine," Yomi assured Tomo, even if she didn't believe it herself.

Chihiro let out a sigh of both relief and disappointment. She was expecting an emotional explosion and it was barely a fizzle. Although it was probably for the best, considering now was not the time or the place for an emotional outburst. But it would come out eventually and Chihiro prayed it wasn't at an even worse time. "Come on," Chihiro called out in an annoyed tone, "Are you just going to sit on your asses or are you going to haul this shit so we can get out of here?!"

"Right," Yomi acknowledged with a nod and then offered her hand to help Tomo up. The duo then set out to help load the supplies.

"You go too," Chihiro said to Kaorin.

Kaorin looked to Chihiro. "I don't see you helping," she complained.

Chihiro pointed to her still swollen ankle. "It didn't magically heal," she said in a deadpan voice.

"Oh, right," Kaorin responded with a blush before getting up and going after Yomi and Tomo.

Left all alone Chihiro laid back and closed her eyes. It had been a long, long day for the woman, and it was barely noon. "After this," she mused aloud, "I don't think anything else could possibly happen." Little did she know that another horrible surprise was waiting just around the corner.

As Yomi and Tomo made their way to the back of the building they came across Sakaki and Kagura lifting more boxes. "Hey," Yomi called out to them, "do you two know where Chiyo is?"

Sakaki nodded as Kagura answered her, "She's out in the truck." Yomi turned and motioned for Tomo to follow, but Kagura stopped them. "If you're going out to the truck you should carry stuff too!" Kagura scolded the duo.

Yomi let out a frustrated sigh as she turned and once more had to drag Tomo after her. Yomi quickly led Tomo over to the supplies and went to lift a metal box, but underestimated its weight. "Give me a hand with this," Yomi ordered and was unexpectedly assisted by not Tomo, but Kaorin. Together the two women lifted the crate and followed after Kagura and Sakaki with Tomo trailing after.

--Just outside the building--

Once outside the girls offloaded their cargo into the truck bed. "Where's Chiyo?" Yomi restated her question toward Kagura and Sakaki.

Kagura thrust a thumb over her shoulder, "She's in the cab."

Sakaki and Kagura started to go back into the building, but were stopped by Yomi. "You two should come with me," the brunette informed the duo somberly. "Kaorin, you take Tomo and keep loading the truck, okay?" she asked Kaorin, who nodded in understanding. Tomo seemed to want to protest, but surprisingly she obediently followed Yomi's instructions and followed after Kaorin.

"What's this about?" Kagura asked Yomi as they stepped around the truck to the passenger side door.

Yomi ignored the question as she knocked on the window startling Chiyo and Osaka. "You surprised us!" Chiyo told Yomi as she rolled down the window. "Is something wrong?" Chiyo asked, suddenly alarmed at Yomi's serious expression.

"How quickly can you get a vaccine made?" Yomi aggressively demanded.

Chiyo was taken aback by Yomi's attitude, but tried to answer the question to the best of her ability anyway. "I'm not really sure, I haven't even gotten to properly examine an insect to see how the virus is related to them and-" Chiyo started but got cut off by Yomi.

"I don't care about that!" Yomi snapped at her, "Best case scenario how fast? Five months? Six?"

Chiyo shook her head. "I don't really think that's feasible," the genius explained, "It's possible, but incredibly unlikely." Yomi visibly deflated. "What's this all about?" Chiyo asked concernedly.

"Tomo is…" Yomi struggled to say, "Tomo is pregnant."

Chiyo visibly paled as she placed her hands over her mouth. "Oh no…" she whispered, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Kagura spoke up, "She went through like five different pregnancy tests."

At that Sakaki pushed Kagura out of the way and shoved Yomi away from the window. "Isn't there anything we can do?" the tall woman asked, worry evident in her voice.

"What's wrong?" Kagura demanded as she forced her way to the window beside Sakaki, "Is there something wrong with Tomo?"

Chiyo nodded. "Sort of…" the small genius mumbled.

"What is it?" Osaka asked from behind.

Chiyo looked over her shoulder to see Osaka who had at some point begun recording again and then back to a still-anxious Kagura. "When I was in America we learned that...without a vaccine…you see…" Chiyo fumbled over her words under the stares of her old friends.

"Babies die from the virus," Yomi bluntly stated, "If we don't get a vaccine soon Tomo's child will die too."

"N-No way," Kagura stammered.

"The only thing we can do for now is to get Chiyo someplace where she can start work on a vaccine," Yomi reasoned, "We should get this done, hurry up." With that Yomi turned on her heel and started off back into the building.

"Chiyo, there must be some way we can help Tomo!" Kagura insisted.

Chiyo shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted, "I'll try to think of something. Do any of you have any ideas?"

Sakaki and Kagura were both at a loss. "Come on," Sakaki insisted as she started back for the building, "The sooner we get done the better."

Kagura reluctantly followed after. "Is there really nothing else we can do?" Kagura wondered to herself.

--Inside the building--

Yomi walked angrily back into the building only to see the irritating sight of Kaorin and Tomo fumbling through the useless junk while Chihiro seemed to be watching them. "What are you two doing?" she asked rhetorically, "You're supposed to be carrying stuff to the truck so we can leave here ASAP."

"Kaorin found these crutches for me," Chihiro explained, "I thought we should look for other useful things. After all, it's not just guns and bullets that we need."

"Everything else can wait!" Yomi snapped, "We need to hurry up and get Chiyo to a lab!" Chihiro let out a sigh as she hobbled out of the building whilst Sakaki and Kagura were coming in. "Let's grab as much as we can and leave, now," Yomi insisted. Sakaki nodded in affirmation as she and Kagura walked past Yomi toward the back of the building. "You two as well," Yomi ordered Tomo and Kaorin. While Kaorin irately followed orders and made her way to the back of the building, however Tomo didn't make a move at all.

"You're upset," Tomo observed, still keeping her back to Yomi, "Sakaki and Kagura too. Was Chiyo's news that bad?"

Yomi silently cursed herself; she had forgotten that Tomo could be very aware when she wanted to be. "Tomo, we need to get Chiyo somewhere that she can work as soon as possible," she explained, "Things will be okay if we get on top of this quickly!"

"She's lying!" Tomo's mind screamed, "You _know_ she's lying!" "S-Sure Yomi," Tomo lamented. "Let's go," Tomo said morosely as she followed off in the direction the others left in.

--Outside--

Back outside Chihiro made her way over to the truck on her crutches. "Chiyo," she greeted as she leaned inside the still-open window.

"Yomi's really upset," she pointed out the obvious, "I take it that the prognosis isn't good?"

Chiyo shook her head. "It's really upsetting," Chiyo admitted, "but I really don't think I'll be able to get anything put together in time."

"What about other options?" Chihiro inquired.

"Other options?" Chiyo asked. "Is there someplace we can go as a last resort?" Chihiro figured, "Some island the virus didn't reach, or something like that?"

Chiyo averted her gaze. "I don't really think so," the genius girl reasoned, "Birds and insects carried the disease, and who knows what else could have transmitted it. So finding an island that is virus free would be impossible and even if we did we'd probably bring the virus with us." Chihiro sighed as she thought of another idea.

"Ah!" Osaka exclaimed, "If we can't get Tomo away from tha virus then we jus' need ta get tha virus away from her!"

Chihiro just stared dumbly at her. "That logic doesn't make any sense!" Chihiro scolded.

"Yes it does!" Chiyo exclaimed. Chihiro looked at Chiyo skeptically as the genius girl translated Osaka's cryptic logic into something more easily understood. "Since we can't go somewhere that doesn't have the virus we have to take someplace that has the virus already and get rid of it!" Chiyo explained, "If we can't get a vaccine together in time we could keep Tomo's child in a sterile environment until we do find a vaccine."

"That's a really good idea," Chihiro admitted.

"What's a really good idea?" Kagura inquired as she hoisted cargo into the truck bed alongside Sakaki.

"Chiyo came up with an idea to protect Tomo's baby if we don't get a vaccine in time." Chihiro explained.

At that Chiyo popped her head out the window. "It was actually Osaka's idea!" the girl corrected.

"Osaka had an idea?" Kaorin asked dubiously as she approached the vehicle.

"Sort of," Chihiro admitted as Kaorin, with the help of Sakaki, loaded her supplies into the truck bed. Shortly after Yomi and Tomo also came out of the building.

"We have great news!" Chiyo shouted to them.

While skeptical as to the true meaning of those words, Yomi was unable to restrain herself and dropped the things she was carrying and quickly made her way over to Chiyo. Being given an excuse Tomo followed suit, also dropping everything she had been carrying before making her way over and next to Yomi. "What is it?" Yomi anxiously asked.

"Osaka came up with an idea," Chiyo informed them, "Even if Tomo gives birth before we can find a vaccine we can keep her child from getting sick by keeping it in a sterile environment. It would take a lot of effort to create and maintain, but it can defiantly be done long before Tomo's due."

Yomi breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her anxiety melt away. "That's good to hear," the bespectacled girl admitted, "You hear that Tomo? I told you everything would be okay."

"But you were lying," Tomo pointed out. Despite her brave face Tomo leaned over and hugged Yomi.

Yomi let out another sigh as she put her hands on Tomo's shoulders. "It's been a long day," she called out so all the girls could hear her loud and clear, "Let's get the hell outta here!"

After throwing the scooter into the truck bed, the girls all piled into the truck. Yomi took the driver's seat while Tomo sat next to her. Chiyo, Osaka, and Chihiro gathered into the backseat and the rest sat uncomfortably in the truck bed.

The truck was off in no time, headed towards the safety of the police station. "That way," Tomo said as she pointed to the left. Tomo was playing the role of navigator since Kaorin had opted to sit with Sakaki instead of driving back.

Meanwhile in the back seats Chiyo couldn't help but notice that Osaka was staring intently at her. "What is it, Osaka?" Chiyo nervously asked a little unnerved at the blank stare.

"What happened to tha other one?" Osaka cryptically asked, "Did ya lose it?"

Unsure of what Osaka was talking Chiyo checked herself, but was unable to find anything out of place. "What do you mean, Osaka?" Chiyo inquired.

Osaka didn't seem to register Chiyo's question as she continued to stare at the young genius. "I can't see it when she's lookin' at me," Osaka's mind wondered, "Is it tha left one or tha right one?" Giving up on understanding Osaka, Chiyo's attention wandered back to watching the road ahead. "It's bigger!" Osaka thought as she stared at Chiyo's ponytail, "Did it eat tha other one?"

"Look out!" Chiyo and Tomo shouted simultaneously as they pointed forward.

Sakaki, Kagura, and Kaorin were alarmed as the truck suddenly came to a screeching halt. "What the hell!?" Kagura shouted as she sprung to her feet, but was quickly thrown off balance as the entire truck lurched violently. As Kagura scrambled to get up again along with Sakaki and Kaorin the sounds of gunshots rang out. The trio was surprised at the sight before them as they crested the top of the truck cab. An oversized bug was up on the hood of the car and was trying to get its head through the now severely damaged windscreen to get at the women inside. Kagura quickly clambered on top of the truck cab before shooting down at the bug with her rifle. Sakaki, instead of climbing over the cab, jumped out of the truck bed and around to the side to shoot at the bug while Kaorin ducked behind the cab. Under the fire of not only Sakaki and Kagura, but also Tomo and Yomi, the bug quickly gave up the ghost.

Once the gunfire ceased everyone piled out of the truck, except for Kagura who stayed on top of the truck cab. "That thing is huge!" Kagura exclaimed in wonder. The bug was nearly twice the size of the ones the girls were familiar with.

"What the hell!?" Chihiro indignantly shouted, "Now they can be out in the daytime?!" With that it sunk in for Kagura and the rest that didn't immediately recognize the significance of this bug. Out in the midday sun this jumbo bug seemed to have been unaffected, unlike its brethren.

"It's not see-through," Osaka observed. It was true. While the insect's shell was the same sickly-white color it was proportionately bigger and thicker, making it opaque.

It took a while for the girls to recover from the shock before Sakaki broke the silence. "We should get it off the car," she suggested as she grabbed the bug and waited for the other women to help her shove it off of the hood. Yomi, Tomo, Kaorin, and, after climbing off of the roof, Kagura all helped Sakaki push the corpse off the truck. Now without a bug on the hood, dozens of bullet holes could be seen.

Kaorin glared daggers at Kagura. "You idiot!" she berated.

Kagura looked at the damaged hood, to her angry friends, and then to the ground. "I-I'm sorry!" she apologized, "I was just trying to kill the bug…I'm sorry!" Kaorin asked Yomi to open the hood so she could look to see the damage done to the engine. Kagura was on the verge of tears as she watched Kaorin examine the engine. "I really didn't mean to," she whimpered.

"It's trashed," Kaorin lamented before sending an angry glare at Kagura. "This is your fault!" she shouted as she pointed at Kagura. Enraged, Kaorin then drew her pistol and aimed at Kagura. Sakaki quickly sprung into action, placing herself between Kaorin and Kagura and protectively outstretching her arms. "Sa-Sakaki," Kaorin stammered. "Sakaki move aside," Kaorin said in a much more aggressive tone as she kept the gun pointed in Kagura's general direction, "She is dead weight!"

Sakaki shook her head as she slowly approached Kaorin. "Kagura is our friend," she assured Kaorin as she slowly walked up to her, eventually causing the muzzle of Kaorin's gun to poke into her torso. Kaorin stood completely stunned as she stared into Sakaki's determined eyes. The entire group watched in silence as Sakaki slowly reached for Kaorin's weapon, grabbed it, and pulled it from her limp grasp. Everyone watching breathed a sigh of relief now that Kaorin had been disarmed.

Using the truck as support Chihiro quickly hobbled her away over to a still stunned Kaorin. "What the hell were you thinking?!" Chihiro berated. Kaorin just shook her head. Sakaki handed Kaorin's pistol to Chihiro with a shaky hand, obviously more shaken up by the ordeal than she let on.

"Thanks, Sakaki," Kagura thanked Sakaki as she put a hand on her shoulder, "You're really amazing."

Chiyo anxiously stared at the sight before her. "Is this really okay?" she asked nervously as she remembered what Osaka had shown and told her about Kaorin and Tomo.

"No, it's not," Yomi told her as she went around to the truck bed, "but now's not the time to worry about it. We need to get to shelter before more bugs show up."

"Come on everyone!" Yomi shouted, "We need to get someplace safe!"

Tomo walked over and joined Yomi in grabbing up essentials. "Getting to the station before nightfall isn't going to be easy," she informed Yomi, "Especially with Chihiro and Chiyo."

Chihiro coaxed Kaorin over while Kagura and Sakaki also moved to try and get as much as they could carry on their backs. The group pulled the scooter out of the back for Chiyo and Chihiro to use and tried to load as much into it as possible.

"Are going to come back for the rest of this stuff tomorrow?" Tomo asked after they had everything together.

"We'll come back when we have a means of carrying all this stuff with us," Yomi informed her.

"We should cover it up, in case of rain," Sakaki mentioned as she stared at all the things they were being forced to leave behind.

"I think…" Kaorin sedately muttered, "I think there is a tarp in here somewhere." Kaorin slowly climbed into the truck's bed. An action that frightened a few of the girls, considering she was climbing into a plethora of deadly weapons. After retrieving the sought object she began to set it up and received help from a couple of the girls.

Everything in place, the group set out for the police station on foot, with the exception of the two gimpy girls who were on the scooter. Kaorin and Kagura both held their heads low in shame of their foolish actions.

"Chiyo!" Yomi shouted over the drone of the scooter's engine, "Why do you think that bug was out in the daylight?"

"I didn't get to really examine it, so I can't say for sure," Chiyo explained, "But it could be like Osaka said and the opaque shell allowed it be out in the sun."

Sakaki, as usual, also joined in the conversation. "Do you think it's a different species?" she asked, "Could they have evolved again?"

"I hope not," Yomi muttered, "It'd be really bad if they are evolving again already."

Chiyo thought about it for a moment before responding. "It could be them evolving," she reasoned, "But they would have to reproduce really quickly for them to change so much in so little time."

Chihiro shook her head. "Then how are they changing so much?" she inquired.

"Maybe they are dimorphic," Chiyo pondered.

"Dai-what?" Chihiro asked.

"It's a creature that has two distinct forms," Sakaki informed her, "but why haven't we seen the big one before, if they've always had two forms?"

"There was only one," Yomi pointed out, "Isn't it possible that it was just a fluke? A mutant or something?"

Their conversation was rudely interrupted by a certain wildcat. "Why can't I ride on the scooter?" Tomo butted in, "I'm pregnant!"

"You can walk!" Yomi retorted, "They can't!"

--Shortly before dusk the group arrives at the police station--

"This…_This_ is where we're supposed to stay?!" Chihiro exclaimed indignantly after shutting off the scooter's engine. The run down structure had no remaining windows and even the doors were missing. "How are we supposed to be safe here?" Chihiro continued to rant, "Bugs can literally just walk right in!"

"Don't' ya mean crawl?" Osaka asked.

"It's safe," Kaorin assured her friend, "They can't break into the jail cells."

After checking her rifle Yomi looked around to the rest of the girls. "Sakaki, Kagura," the brunette called out, "You two come with me to make sure the building is clear. The rest of you wait here until its safe."

"I'm going too!" Tomo insisted, "It's _my_ station!"

Yomi really didn't want to put Tomo into any danger in her condition, but at the same time 'safety' was a relative term anyway, especially now that there was the possibility of insects being out in the daytime. "Fine," Yomi relented, "everyone else be on guard, okay?" After getting affirmatives from the rest of the group Yomi led the charge into the building followed by Sakaki, Kagura, and Tomo bringing up the rear.

With half the group gone, most notably Kagura, Chihiro handed Kaorin's pistol back to her. "Point that at anything human and you're not getting it back again," Chihiro warned as Kaorin retrieved her gun.

"I'm sorry," Kaorin lamented as she checked the firearm over before replacing it in its holster.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Chihiro asked her.

"Kagura…It's just…" Kaorin fumbled over her words, "We don't get along."

"That's no excuse to try and kill her!" Chiyo scolded.

"I know it was stupid…" Kaorin admitted as she stared back at the angry glares coming from her friends, "I'm sorry."

--A short time later--

"It's all clear!" Tomo loudly announced as she came back out of the building. The other girls also emerged from the building to help carry the supplies and the injured to the cells.

--Inside the cells--

Sakaki, Chihiro, Kaorin, and Chiyo occupied the cell the girl's had usually stayed in while the rest took an adjacent cell. Now in a safe and stable location Sakaki proceeded to look over Chihiro's injury while Kaorin helped Chiyo in changing her bandages.

Chiyo was a little nervous in receiving aid from Kaorin. She knew Kaorin back in high school and she knew they were supposed to be friends, but still, Kaorin had tried to kill Kagura and, according to Osaka's tape, Tomo.

"Wow Chiyo," Kaorin marveled as she removed the old bandages, "How long ago did you get these?"

"Um…uhh…" Chiyo fumbled over her words as she tried to recall.

"It was about a month ago when Yomi and I found her," Sakaki informed Kaorin as she delicately checked over Chihiro's ankle.

While the wounds had mostly healed up there were terrible scars all over the girl's arms. "I don't think you need bandages," Kaorin observed, "The wounds look like they have completely closed up."

"I know," Chiyo admitted as she looked at her mangled arms, "but still, I just want to make sure it heals up okay."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Kaorin assured her, "You shouldn't waste any more bandages." Chiyo didn't have the heart to contend Kaorin's judgment.

"Does this hurt?" Sakaki inquired as she contorted Chihiro's afflicted ankle which caused the poor girl to scream in affirmation.

"Be easy!" Chihiro begged.

Kaorin then helped Chiyo remove the bandages on her leg, to which the girl hissed and cried out at every little touch.

"Is everything all right over there?" Yomi yelled to the group from her cell, clearly worried about the yelling.

Both Chiyo and Chihiro assured that they were all right, even though they continued to whine as they were tended to. Unlike her arms, Chiyo's leg's wounds weren't totally healed and the mere sight of them nearly caused Kaorin to swoon. Kaorin did her best not to focus on it as she applied disinfectant and reapplied bandages to the festering wound.

"One week, maybe two," Sakaki mumbled, telling Chihiro how long until her injury would be fully healed.

"What are we going to do?" Chiyo asked.

"We're getting you to a lab!" Yomi responded from the adjacent cell.

"First we need a new vehicle," Chihiro reasoned, "After that we retrieve the stuff we abandoned. Then we can go find Chiyo someplace to work."

A thump was heard from Yomi's cell. "I'm sick of doing nothing!" Yomi shouted, "We need to get started working on this! I don't care if we don't have all the supplies or a real vehicle!"

"I agree with Yomi!" Tomo's voice rang out.

"We shouldn't take any unnecessary risks!" Kaorin shouted in Chihiro's defense.

"Let's take a vote!" Kagura joined in, "I say we find Chiyo a lab tomorrow!" Yomi, Tomo, and Osaka all voiced their agreement of Kagura's sentiments.

"We should play it safe!" Kaorin retorted and Chihiro agreed with her.

"I don't want anyone to be harmed," Chiyo announced, also agreeing with Kaorin.

The last to speak up, Sakaki pondered the situation for a moment before announcing her opinion. "We don't have much time left to keep playing it safe," Sakaki contended, "The bugs are changing each day and each day they are getting stronger. We have to do something."

"So we leave in the morning!" Yomi announced, "Be ready!"

Kaorin looked helplessly at Sakaki. For the first time in her life Kaorin resented the taller girl.

A/N: Not much action, but at least the story is moving along again. Once again the ideas I have in my head clash with what my fingers type. I had planned for them to make it to the police station with the truck (mostly) intact and of course that also meant no more anger between Kagura and Kaorin. Things didn't happen that way... On the bright side I do plan on making those two get along...eventually.


	11. One Step Forward

--Shortly after the break of dawn at the police station--

It had been a very, very long night for Chiyo, Sakaki, Chihiro, and Yomi who were unaccustomed to being in the cells with ravenous bugs just outside. Everyone was relieved when dawn came and they could begin their journey…mostly.

"I still think we should get a vehicle ready first!" Kaorin whined as everyone was gathering their things.

"Don't worry about it!" Tomo responded as she checked her shotgun over, "We'll be fine."

"We should get moving," Sakaki announced as she shouldered her gear and led everyone outside.

The group quickly gathered their things and began filing out of their sanctuary. The last to leave was a reluctant Kaorin who was more than a little tempted to lock herself inside a cell and refuse to go. "We shouldn't keep taking so many unnecessary risks," Kaorin reasoned.

"You're talking nonsense," Kagura complained as she and the rest of the group exited the station, "This is the first thing you've done that's even a little risky!"

"Leave her alone, Kagura," Chihiro scolded as the group made it to the street and she mounted the scooter.

Kagura was clearly put off by Chihiro. "Let's go," Kagura irately announced.

"Is something wrong?" Sakaki discreetly asked Kagura as they started off.

"Why does everyone defend her? Agree with her?" Kagura said as she glared at Kaorin.

"You mean Kaorin?" Sakaki asked.

"Of course!" Kagura exclaimed, albeit in hushed tones.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sakaki said as she cast a glance at the woman in question. Kagura shook her head. "Everyone defends her because she needs defending," Sakaki explained, "She always seems really upset. She's really stressed out by all of this."

"We're all upset," Kagura pointed out, "No one ever stands up for me."

Sakaki shook her head. "It's because you are strong. You don't need anyone to stand up for you because you can stand up for yourself," Sakaki informed her.

"It still hurts, when no one takes my side," Kagura admitted.

"It's a burden you can handle," Sakaki said as she looked to Kaorin again, "It looks like she needs help."

"I guess I should treat her more like Osaka then, huh?" Kagura inquired as she also looked to the woman in question.

"Like Osaka?" Sakaki asked."

"Yeah," the tomboy said with a nod, "I promised her a long time ago that I would protect her with my life."

Sakaki then looked to Yomi. "Yomi protected me," the tall girl admitted with a small blush, "I owe her my life."

"I doubt that," Kagura said skeptically, "You're strong too, I'm sure you could have done okay by yourself."

Sakaki shook her head again. "I might be strong now, but I wasn't back then." Sakaki explained, "Yomi helped me to be strong."

"I still find it hard to believe that you wouldn't be able to take care of yourself," Kagura confessed as she looked to the sky.

"Are you alright?" Yomi asked a clearly distraught Kaorin. Kaorin merely shook her head. "What's wrong?" the brunette prodded, but Kaorin maintained her silence. "You're still upset about yesterday, I understand, but that doesn't mean you should be a bitch to everyone either." Yomi coolly pointed out.

"Shut up!" Kaorin snapped, "You don't have any idea of what I'm going through! What I've been through!"

Everyone watched as Yomi, amazingly, was completely unaffected by Kaorin's outburst. "That's right," Yomi said, her voice steady and even, "We don't know how you are feeling, but we want to know. All of us just want to help you. Something is eating you up inside and we need to know so we can save you!"

"Not now," Kaorin said in a small voice, "Once we are safe."

Yomi let out a chuckle. "Safe is just a relative term anymore," she cynically observed.

"In any case safe is not here!" Chihiro suddenly announced from the front of the pack as the scooter came to a screeching halt.

At the end of the street the girls were on stood a big, old library less than 100 meters from where the girls stood. There were two giant bugs scurrying about the front steps as well as one on the face of the building. Chihiro shut off the motor to the scooter as everyone stared on at the sight down the street.

"They haven't seen us yet," Kaorin observed in a hushed voice, "We should find a way around." Many of the girls shared the sentiment as their gazes wondered about looking for a safe and clear alley they could traverse.

"It's a nest!" Chiyo exclaimed as she noticed movement inside the structure. She immediately regretted her excitement as one of the bugs perked up at the sound of her voice. The insect let out a screech and charged in the direction of the girls and was immediately followed by its two companions and another giant bug the girls had not seen. Reacting to the threat Chihiro drew her fully automatic pistol and started firing off rounds at the incoming bugs. Sakaki and Kagura quickly joined the battle running up behind an abandoned car and firing as Yomi did so from the other side of the crippled duo. Kaorin, Tomo, and Osaka stood back and only watched in terror as the bugs quickly closed the distance.

As the lead bug dropped Chihiro quickly holstered her now empty pistol and started the scooter. She was barely able to get the scooter going before the three remaining bugs made it to the front line, barely escaping the fury of one of the bugs. Kagura and Sakaki were able to down the bug nearest to themselves and immediately moved to the bug that was eagerly chasing after the scooter. Yomi was not as lucky. The giant bug quickly rammed into the car Yomi had been hiding behind and, with a feat of amazing strength, sent the car sailing over Yomi's head and leaving her completely defenseless. The bespectacled woman bravely continued to fire round after round into the bug even as it opened its maw, preparing to deliver a fatal blow. Yomi instinctively stepped back and, perhaps fortunately, tripped and landed on her backside, allowing her head to slip just centimeters below the insect's rending jaws as it snapped its maw closed. Yomi's luck ended there, however, as the bug quickly struck her with one of its powerful forelegs as Yomi tried to scramble to her feet. The impact sent her flying into a nearby wall.

Osaka, Kaorin, and especially Tomo watched in horror as Yomi crumpled motionlessly to the ground. "No!" Tomo cried out as she suddenly snapped into action, firing her shotgun wildly at the insect. Kaorin quickly joined in as the bug turned its attention to the trio. Under the combined firepower the bug staggered, but continued to make its way to the women. The terrible insect finally met its end as Sakaki and Kagura also joined in, having already safely disposed of the bug that pursued the scooter. "Yomi!" Tomo shouted as soon as the insect hit the ground. She then carelessly made her way around the still writhing insect. "Yomi are you okay!?" Tomo desperately asked as she shook the still woman. Yomi did not stir and Tomo was horrified to find a small pool of blood collecting underneath the unconscious woman. At about this time Sakaki had also made her way to the scene. "Help her Sakaki," Tomo begged as she began to cry, "She's going to die!"

Sakaki quickly began looking Yomi over as Kagura gently ushered a hysterical Tomo away from the scene. Tomo, however, refused to be dragged more than a meter or two from Yomi. Sakaki quickly found the source of the bleeding as a gash in Yomi's hip, likely where the bug had struck her. "Give me a hand," Sakaki requested as she dumped the contents of her pack on the ground and retrieved the needed medical supplies.

Tomo eagerly stepped in. "What do I need to do?" Tomo anxiously asked as she fawned over Yomi's still form. Sakaki ordered Tomo to hold gauze on Yomi's bleeding leg as she continued to look the girl over. The wound was serious, but by no means the cause of Yomi's unconsciousness.

"We've got company!" Chihiro suddenly warned as she pointed to a rallying group of jumbo insects. At least half a dozen giant bugs were gathered on the front steps of the large library and they were slowly following in the footsteps of the other four, towards the girls.

"What should we do?!" Chiyo asked in panicky, but thankfully low, voice.

Shutting off the engine again this time Chihiro got off the small vehicle and rummaged through her pack. "I say we go with shock and awe," she said in a low voice as she retrieved a couple of flash-bangs from her pack, "Bugs really hate these things, but these are my last two."

"I have these," Kagura offered as she removed a fragmentation grenade from its strap.

"You need to throw those at least 20 meters," Chihiro warned as she, Kagura, and Kaorin took up position behind a forsaken vehicle. The rest of the group was gathered around Yomi.

"Kagura, you throw a grenade first, hurry!" Chihiro urged as she peeked over the vehicle at the still advancing bugs, no more than 40 meters away.

Kagura nodded as she pulled the pin on her grenade. Kagura had acquired the grenades a while back, but had never used one before. She muttered a silent prayer as she jumped to her feet, took aim at the bugs, and threw the weapon. "It's no good!" Kagura thought as she watched the grenade fall short of its target.

The bugs instantly took notice of the quick movements of Kagura, but failed to notice the grenade just meters in front of them. As they charged forward they placed themselves right over the deadly weapon as the fuse reached its end. The ensuing blast tore apart the leading bug and another while wounding a couple of the others. The surviving insects scattered, clearly spooked by the blast. The bomb having gone off, Kaorin popped up and began firing at the disoriented insects.

"Flash-bang!" Chihiro warned as she let the device fly.

Kaorin once again ducked under cover as Kagura blindly tossed a grenade in the direction of the bugs. After the deafening blast Kaorin moved to get up and fire again, only to be jerked down again by Chihiro as Kagura's grenade went off.

"Warn everyone when you throw a grenade!" Chihiro scolded as she and Kaorin looked out once more. The bugs were getting dangerously close. "No more grenades, Kagura!" Chihiro warned as she drew her pistol again and aided Kaorin in shooting at the three remaining bugs. Following orders Kagura stopped trying to detach the next bomb and instead picked up her rifle and joined in shooting.

The bugs had closed much of the distance, but were confused and disoriented from the blasts. One of them actually bit its companion, severely crippling it. The trio's gunfire easily slaughtered the third bug just as the first two recovered from their stupor. The girls quickly turned their fire on the lead insect as it charged and overtook the trio.

"Flash-bang!" Chihiro cried out as she dropped the object. Unsure of what exactly they should do both Kaorin and Kagura dove away from the object while Chihiro covered her ears and closed her eyes. The deafening and blinding blast stunned not only the insects but Kagura and Kaorin as well; even the girls grouped around Yomi were affected by the explosion. Chihiro, having recovered first, resumed attacking the now disoriented insects. The other girls recovered long before the insects and were able to finish off the wounded duo before they could recuperate from the flash-bang.

"We need to leave now," Chihiro called out as she observed the old library, "There's no telling how many more may be in there!"

"We shouldn't move her," Sakaki contradicted as she, Chiyo, and Tomo cared to the fallen woman. Sakaki had sutured the wound on Yomi's leg and she and Chiyo were tentatively examining the still unconscious woman.

"We'll run out of luck if more bugs show up," Chihiro countered as she continued surveillance of the ominous building.

"Is Yomi gonna be okay?" Kagura asked as she and Kaorin also gathered around their fallen friend.

"She's breathing and the bleeding is subsiding," Sakaki informed them, "but she is still unconscious."

Kagura was suddenly struck with a very bad idea that she mistook for a very good one. Digging through her pack Kagura retrieved a bottle of water, opened it, and held it over Yomi's head.

"Don't!" Sakaki tried to stop her, however not in enough time, as Kagura dumped the water on Yomi.

"You idiot!" Kaorin berated as she grabbed Kagura away from Yomi.

To everyone's surprise Yomi sputtered and coughed before opening her eyes. "Yomi!" everyone exclaimed as she awoke.

"Yomi, are you okay?!" Tomo worriedly asked.

Yomi tried to focus her vision on her old friend, but failed miserably. "I-I can't see…" Yomi sedately muttered.

"Oh no! She's blind!" Chiyo panicked.

Tomo didn't seem nearly as worried as she looked around. She quickly spied the missing object, picking up Yomi's glasses and handing them to her. "That's better," Yomi said as she sat up holding her head, "W-What happened?"

"A bug hit you," Sakaki informed her, "Are you sure you are okay?"

"My…My head hurts," Yomi stuttered as she tried to get up only to discover the searing pain in her hip. "Nngh! How did this…w-what…?" Yomi whined as she placed her hands over her fresh wound.

"It's from when the bug hit you," Tomo told her as Sakaki handed her a couple of painkillers.

Yomi eagerly popped them into her mouth before retrieving a bottle of water. Yomi fumbled and struggled with the cap for a minute. When it failed to yield Yomi violently shook the bottle before angrily throwing it away.

"Here," Kagura mumbled as she offered the half empty bottle of water she still held in her hand to Yomi. She eagerly took it and downed it in no time at all.

"Heads up!" Chihiro suddenly warned as another duo of giant bugs exited the library and unlike the previous group they scrambled toward the girls at high speed. Most of the girls ran to assist Chihiro. Even Yomi tried to grab her gun and go assist, but was held back by Chiyo and Tomo as well as her injured leg. While the gunfire ensued Tomo and Chiyo continued to fawn over Yomi. The woman in question suddenly grabbed her head again and nearly fell over.

"Yomi!" Tomo and Chiyo cried out in unison as the former grabbed Yomi to stabilize her.

"I'm just…" Yomi mumbled almost incoherently, "I'm…it's spinning." Tomo looked desperately to Chiyo. Something was clearly wrong with their friend.

"Yomi, are you sure you're okay?" the little genius asked, "Did you hit your head?" In response Yomi only muttered unintelligibly about her head. Chiyo quickly fiddled through her bag and retrieved a flashlight. "I need to see your eyes," Chiyo cautioned Yomi as she clicked the device on and shone it in her eyes. Yomi flinched and squirmed a bit, but Chiyo was able to see her pupils contracting. Chiyo didn't really know what she was doing, but she knew that having dilated pupils was bad so she was relieved to see them react to light.

At about that time the other girls, minus Chihiro, returned unharmed. "How is she?" Sakaki inquired as she knelt down next to Yomi.

"Something is wrong," Tomo whimpered, "Fix her."

"I'm fine, it just…it hurts," Yomi protested with little vigor, "Can you give me…a…a thing for the pain?"

Sakaki, stunned, pried her eyes away from Yomi and looked meaningfully to Chiyo. "I think she hit her head," Chiyo informed Sakaki.

"Aren't you going to give me anything?" Yomi continued to complain.

"Sakaki just gave you some pain pills a minute ago!" Kagura tactlessly informed her, "If you take too many you'll get sick."

Yomi shot an angry glare at Kagura that rapidly faded into a blank confused stare. "W-What?" Yomi asked with confusion evident in her voice.

Sakaki forced Yomi to look at her. "How many?" Sakaki asked as she held up a few fingers. The duo quickly went through a dozen or so, of which Yomi only got about half right.

"What do we do?" Tomo desperately asked Sakaki who only shook her head. She was a vet, not a doctor. She honestly didn't know what to do for a head injury to a person.

"Can I have those…those…pain things now?" Yomi asked, oblivious to the concerned stares of her friends.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Chihiro called out to the group. She had only heard bits and pieces of what was going on, but from what she had gathered Yomi was at the very least in good enough condition to move her. "You can figure out a treatment after we get away from all of these bugs," she callously informed them as she limped back over to the scooter.

"It might be good to leave," Kaorin said sheepishly, "We can't do anything for her here and it's way too dangerous to stay."

Kagura moved over to Yomi and, with Tomo's assistance, helped Yomi to her feet. "The scooter won't be able to carry all three of us," Chiyo observed as Kagura and Tomo helped Yomi to the scooter.

No sooner did she finish her sentence did Sakaki scoop Chiyo up into her arms. "Thanks, Sakaki," Chiyo praised with a small blush, an action that caused Sakaki to also blush. Once the group was gathered and ready they set out for the police station yet again.

They hadn't even made it two kilometers and were forced to return and now they had yet another crippling injury to deal with. Before turning down another street Kagura took one last look at the ominous library. "Are we really going to make it?" she wondered to herself.

A/N: I had actually planned on them making it this chapter, I really did! Things just didn't turn out that way and with the way things are going it may be several more chapters before they do get there. Oh well. Much love to all my readers and reviewers! See you next time.


	12. Deathtrap

--Once again the girls were gathered in the police station--

Yomi hadn't shown any improvements since her head injury several hours ago. Tomo was a nervous wreck while Yomi seemed to still be unable to understand her situation. Yomi could remember everything up until today, but was unable to recall anything after that. Chiyo said that Yomi was able to understand most everything, even in her confused state, and could even properly respond. However she was unable to store anything into memory causing her to forget any matter as soon as she stopped thinking about it. Aside from that frightening symptom Yomi was still generally confused and suffered from bouts of dizziness and a steady headache.

At this time Yomi was trying to sleep as the other girls fretted over the situation. "Is she going to get better?" Tomo asked anxiously.

Chiyo looked away, unable to stand the desperate look on Tomo's face. "It's too early to tell," Chiyo mumbled, "If she shows improvement in the morning then the prognosis will probably be good."

"Let's assume she sleeps this off," Chihiro interrupted, "How long until she can be on her feet?"

It was Sakaki's turn to answer. "If it doesn't get infected it shouldn't take too long," the tall woman predicted, "A few weeks."

Chihiro let out an irritated sigh. "Do you guys think we could make it there with Yomi incapacitated?" Chihiro asked the group.

"We should wait," Kaorin continued to assert, "You can wait a month to start, right Chiyo?"

Chiyo shook her head. "What if there are more setbacks?" the little genius replied, "Time is of the essence."

"This is ridiculous," Kagura butted in, "We can't keep carrying all this dead weight." Upon receiving angry glares from everyone Kagura rephrased her statement, this time choosing her words more carefully. "What I mean is we can't keep dragging you three around," she explained, "We need a car or something."

"We _had_ a car!" Kaorin yelled at her, "_You_ broke it!"

Once again feeling herself being against the entire group with no support Kagura snapped. "Fine!" she hollered to everyone, "I'll go find one by myself to make up for it!"

She began to storm off, but was stopped by Sakaki. Sakaki then dragged the athletic girl and placed her in front of Kaorin. "You two need to kiss and make up, now," the tall woman ordered.

Kaorin shook her head in an effort to dislodge the unwanted image Sakaki's phrase had brought to mind. "I'm not going to apologize to _her_!" Kaorin retorted after regaining her senses.

Sakaki met Kaorin's fierce stare with her own. "You two cannot keep going at each other's throats!" Sakaki said surprisingly harshly, "You have to stop this before you kill each other!"

The duo faced each other for some time before Kagura finally broke the silence. "If an apology won't work, then how about a promise?" Kagura proposed. Upon receiving no response from Kaorin the tomboy decided to continue. "Let's just promise to leave each other alone, deal?" Kagura coaxed whilst extending her hand.

Kaorin made no effort to reach for Kagura's hand. "We tried this before, it didn't work," Kaorin pointed out, "What makes this time any different?"

"Last time was an apology, this time it's a promise," Kagura informed her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Kaorin reluctantly took Kagura's hand. "Okay, I promise to leave you be," Kaorin said, even though she wasn't sure if it was a promise she'd be able to keep.

"Then it's settled," Sakaki announced, "No more fighting."

--The following morning--

It had been a long, long night for poor Tomo. She had barely slept a wink worrying about Yomi. As daylight filtered into the cells the other girls began to stir. "She's still asleep," Tomo dumbly informed Chiyo as the small woman sat up rubbing her eyes.

"Who's asleep?" Chiyo asked, still stuck in a sleepy fog.

"Yomi!" Tomo irately reminded Chiyo.

"What about Yomi?" Chiyo inquired as she stretched.

"You said you'd be able to tell if she's going to be better by now!" Tomo anxiously told Chiyo.

Chiyo then looked to the still form of Yomi. "I'll check her out when she wakes up," Chiyo said, not having the heart to wake Yomi up.

"Yomi!" Tomo loudly called as she shook the woman awake, "Chiyo needs to examine you!"

"W-What's going on?! Bugs?!" Yomi sputtered out as she rolled about scrambling to find her things. The commotion was enough to wake all the other girls, some of whom also shared in Yomi's panic.

After everyone settled down Chiyo began to interrogate Yomi to see if she had improved at all. "Yomi, do you remember how Tomo woke you up this morning?" Chiyo asked a now calm Yomi.

"She scared the living…the living hell out of me…why was she so worried?"

"You really remember?!" Tomo happily exclaimed.

"Not so…so noisy," Yomi complained as she held her head in her hands, "I have a killer headache."

Sakaki silently handed the bespectacled woman painkillers and a bottle of water. "Thanks, Sakaki," Yomi mumbled as she eagerly devoured the medication.

"Yomi," Chiyo continued to inquire, "Do you remember what happened yesterday?" Yomi thought for a second before replying.

"We met up with…um…those people," and after another second's meditation a thought struck her. "Ah! Tomo's pregnant; we have to get you to…to um…that-that place!" Yomi exclaimed as she tried to stand up, only to discover a searing pain in her hip.

Chiyo shook her head as she coaxed Yomi back down into a sitting position. "That was the day before yesterday," Chiyo informed Yomi, "Yesterday we set out but we ran into some bugs. You took a really nasty hit." Yomi chose to lay back down, clearly confused by this new tidbit of information. "Yomi, this may seem redundant, but I have to ask," Chiyo started, "Do you remember how Tomo woke you up this morning?"

Yomi once again grabbed her head as she tried to remember. "Didn't I get up on my own today?" Yomi pondered.

Tomo's building hopes came crashing down around her. "Oh no," the normally energetic girl whispered as she turned away from her friends.

Chiyo did her best to hobble over to Tomo. "Don't worry," Chiyo offered as she tried to console her friend, "It looks like she is making at least a little bit of improvement. She will probably be back to her old self in a few weeks. So don't worry, okay?" Tomo nodded, but offered little other indication that she had even heard the little genius speak.

"Why…Why do you all look so…um…what's the word?" Yomi asked as she rose once again into a sitting position.

"Don't tear your stitches," Sakaki tried to warn Yomi, but to no avail as the forgetful woman tried once again to get to her feet. Yomi hissed in pain as she collapsed back to the ground.

"Tomo," Chiyo prodded, "You should really take care of her. She needs you right now." Without saying a word Tomo trudged over next to Yomi.

"You have to stay in bed, okay?" Tomo coaxed as if she were talking to a child.

"Why does my…my…this hurt?" Yomi asked as she pointed to her wounded leg.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Kagura loudly asked in hopes of getting everyone's mind off of the delicate situation.

Kaorin assumed the role of leader. "We need a car, so you, Sakaki, Osaka, and I should go try to find a suitable vehicle," she announced, "Once we get one we should try to armor it and retrieve the supplies we left behind."

"Just the four of you?" Chihiro asked, "What will the rest of us do?"

Kaorin deflated a little. "I-I don't know," she admitted, "You, Chiyo, and Yomi are in no condition to be moving and I don't think Tomo wants to leave Yomi."

"Stupid ankle," Chihiro mumbled, "I guess there really isn't much we can do to help. I hate feeling so useless."

"Tomo," Kagura called to the woman in the adjacent cell, "Are you sure you don't wanna come with us?"

"I'm staying here!" was her reply.

After gathering their things the quartet exited the station and stared out into the streets before them. "What kind of vehicle should we be looking for?" Sakaki asked.

"It needs to be able to haul all eight of us plus as much gear as possible," Kaorin reasoned, "I doubt we'd find it, but a vehicle with armor would be really great."

"So tha bigger tha better?" Osaka asked.

Kagura shook her head. "It can't be too big," the tomboy complained, "It gets hard to navigate even with that scooter sometimes."

"A bulldozer?" Sakaki offered.

"Oh!" Kagura admired, "That's a really good idea! A bulldozer would be powerful enough to just push most of the crap outta our way."

Kaorin shook her head. "A bulldozer seats one, not eight," she pointed out.

"Let's just get both," Osaka offered.

"Both?" Kagura asked, "What's the other one?"

"Something big," Osaka replied.

"A bus maybe?" Kaorin mused, "There should be a lot of them to scavenge spare parts from and it'd defiantly hold all of us."

"A bus and a bulldozer," Sakaki recounted out loud, "Where do we find them?"

Kagura looked around, trying to remember the layout of the city. "I think there is a bus depot not far from here," she recalled, "I don't know which way it is though."

"A depot?" Kaorin asked excitedly, "If we can get to a depot it would be so much easier to fix up a bus right."

"It's that way," Osaka said pointing to the group's left.

--Not long after their friends had departed--

Sakaki and the rest had left the remaining four girls locked inside one of the jail cells.

"Yomi, you can't get up," Tomo told Yomi for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Hey," Chihiro spoke up whilst Tomo was still struggling with a mostly unaware Yomi. "Do any of you know what happened to Kaorin?" Chihiro asked the group, although it was clear her question was aimed directly at the wildcat, "At first she seemed just like her old self, but now…"

"She's been on a downward spiral for a long time now," Tomo sedately answered her, "She never talks about what's bothering her either, so I don't really know what her problem is."

"What do you know?" Chihiro prodded. Tomo started counting on her fingers.

"Kaorin was responsible for nine or ten people losing their lives," Tomo informed them, "I guess it's partly my fault that Taro died." Tomo stared at the spot where Taro died for some time before Chihiro interrupted her stupor.

"What happened exactly?" Chihiro inquired.

"I'm not sure on Kaorin's part," Tomo admitted, "All I know is that somehow she got to be in charge of a lot of people. She chose to stay in a store that used to sit across the street instead of staying here. It wasn't safe from the bugs so Taro and I went to save them. That was my idea. We two were the only ones that made it. Taro…Taro died to save us." Tomo suddenly felt a hand on her cheek and looked down to see Yomi looking up her.

"Why are you crying?" Yomi sincerely asked her, not remembering any of the conversation, "Please don't cry."

Chihiro had several questions still to ask, but now was obviously not the right time. "I don't suppose you have any comforting words for me, do you Chiyo?" Chihiro asked in a soft voice.

"There's a part Tomo left out," Chiyo informed Chihiro.

"It's good news I hope," Chihiro mumbled, even though she knew it wasn't.

Chiyo affirmed this with a shake of her head. "Osaka showed me a video," the little genius explained, "Apparently Kaorin shot Tomo and wanted to kill herself too, but Kagura stopped her."

"W-What?" Chihiro asked almost too loudly as it attracted the attention of Tomo and Yomi. "Tomo doesn't have a scratch on her," Chihiro whispered to Chiyo, "And wouldn't she be fonder of Kagura if she saved her?"

"Tomo was wearing a bullet proof vest; she still is," Chiyo explained, "And Kagura was really cruel to her. You should ask Osaka to see that tape sometime."

"'Cruel to her?'" Chihiro repeated those words with anger evident in her voice.

"She…um…Kagura beat up Kaorin and said really mean things to her," Chiyo explained, "I think that's probably what started off their feud."

Perhaps noticing that Tomo was now in better spirits, or perhaps just letting her emotions get the better of her Chihiro turned back to the wildcat for answers. "Tomo, did Kaorin really shoot you?"

Tomo responded by unbuttoning her shirt and pointing to the damaged part of her vest, "Right here."

"Why?" Chihiro asked, "Why did she shoot you?"

"Why are you asking me?" Tomo retorted, "You should ask her. She's the only one who knows what she's thinking."

"I guess…I guess I'm just afraid," Chihiro admitted, "Even if I do ask her Kaorin would probably just get mad at me, or lie, or shoot someone…" Chihiro then let out a sigh. "She really did seem totally normal when I first saw her," Chihiro said with a shake of her head, "It's really hard to see her have changed so much, and in such a bad way."

"Maybe she just needs a friend to be there for her," Chiyo optimistically suggested.

"One can always hope," Chihiro mused, "Even in this hellish new world."

"I hope Yomi gets better," Tomo voiced her thoughts.

"I hope I can help create a vaccine, or at least a treatment for the virus," Chiyo joined in.

"I just hope Kaorin gets better and doesn't kill anyone," Chihiro mumbled.

"I hope everyone…um…something." Yomi spoke up, though she didn't make much sense.

--Somewhere not far from the police station--

"That way," Osaka pointed.

Sakaki had politely stayed silent hoping Kaorin would question why there were taking directions from the spacey girl, but it was beginning to become obvious that Kaorin was far too obsessed with constantly scanning the ruins with a look not unlike that of a meerkat.

"Osaka," Sakaki spoke up, "How do you know where we're going?"

"Ah," Osaka stopped in her tracks as she reached behind herself and ruffled through her backpack, "This." Osaka then retrieved a rolled up piece of paper. Sakaki curiously watched as Osaka unraveled what turned out to be a map. "We're here," Osaka said as she pointed to a seemingly random point on the map. She then pointed to a different point on the map, "This is tha bus station." Sakaki, skeptical of Osaka's sense of direction, looked about for a landmark to make sure they were in the right place.

"Look here!" Kagura hollered, seemingly reading Sakaki's mind Kagura had picked up a downed street sign and held it high for Sakaki to read. "We're right where she says we are, right?" Kagura asked rhetorically. Sakaki dumbly nodded while Kagura just flashed a smile and a victory sign, inadvertently dropping the street sign. At the crash of the sign Kaorin quickly spun around and fired in the direction of the alarming sound. Kagura let out a cry as Sakaki and Osaka rushed to her aid.

"I-I didn't mean to!" Kaorin choked out.

After a moment Kaorin also rushed over to Kagura who was now on her knees and clutching her face with both hands.

"It hurts!" Kagura cried out as Sakaki quickly gathered her medical supplies from her bag.

"Let me see," Sakaki urged as she pried Kagura's hands away from her face. Everyone went silent as they saw Kagura's face.

"What is it?!" Kagura exclaimed, "Is it that bad?!"

"It's…It's just a scratch," Sakaki informed her. True enough the bullet had just grazed her left cheek, leaving nothing but a deep scratch.

"Hold still," Sakaki ordered as she prepared a suture.

"W-W-What are you going to do with that?!" Kagura asked as she leaned away from Sakaki, or rather the curved needle.

"I need to close the wound," Sakaki assured Kagura, "It shouldn't take but one or two stitches."

"You're not putting that thing anywhere near my face!" Kagura refused.

Sakaki looked from the curved needle in her hand to Kagura's still bleeding wound. "You need…"

"It's just a scratch!" Kagura interrupted, "You said so yourself! Just-Just give me a band-aid or something." Letting out a sigh Sakaki resigned to Kagura's demands and did her best to patch up the wound without stitches.

"I'm so sorry, Kagura," Kaorin offered as Sakaki applied bandages to Kagura's face, "I really didn't mean to shoot you."

Kagura was about to snap at the reckless girl, but was given a couple of extra seconds to think it over thanks to Sakaki's tending to Kagura's wound. The tomboy let out a hiss and jerked away from Sakaki just as she finished applying gauze to her friend's face. "What is wrong with you?" Kagura asked, barely able to keep her voice steady and low, "Are you really that scared?"

"Yes!" Kaorin answered all too quickly, "What's wrong with _you_? All of you! How can you all be so…so…"

"So what?" Osaka urged.

"How can none of you be freaked out by all of this?!" Kaorin demanded desperately, "We are living in a real live hell and you all act as though it's just another ordinary day!"

"That's because…" Kagura said as she got to her feet, "because it _is_ just another ordinary day. Even in this world…especially in this world, I am happy to wake up every day. We might see death's door every day, but we've all made it this far and we have all our friends here. We're all together and we're all alive! How can you not be happy? We are probably the luckiest people on the whole planet!"

"And how long do you think that will last?" Kaorin contested, "Will you still think you're so lucky when you get to watch as a bug eats one of us?"

Kagura shook her head. "That won't happen," Kagura said confidently, "If anyone is gonna die it'll be me! I'd gladly sacrifice myself for any one of us!"

Kaorin gave up. It was very apparent that Kagura would never understand her feelings. "Let's go," Kaorin insisted.

"Don't forget our promise!" Kagura reminded Kaorin as they set off again.

--After an hour of walking the girls arrive at a dilapidated bus station--

"Wow," Kagura marveled as they walked across the lot of abandoned busses, "Some of these look like they'll run right now."

"Even if they do I'll still have to tear most of the seats out," Kaorin explained as she eyed the vehicles critically, "And a few spare parts wouldn't hurt either."

"Why tear the seats out?" Kagura questioned as they came across a partially collapsed building.

"There are only eight of us," Kaorin explained, "So we don't need many seats. We can use the extra room to haul more stuff."

Kaorin then led them cautiously into the building which turned out to be a servicing garage. "No bugs," Sakaki observed as the girls checked all around for signs of the hated creatures.

"They haven't been in random building as much recently," Kagura observed.

"An' they haven't been flying for a few nights either," Osaka added as Kaorin started shuffling through toolboxes.

"They haven't?" Sakaki asked, to which Osaka shook her head.

After spending quite some time familiarizing herself with the tools on hand Kaorin moved to examine the nearest bus. "Idiot," she berated herself as she checked the vehicle. Of course any vehicle in the servicing garage would be broken. "We need to move this bus out of here so I can put in a better bus in here to work on," Kaorin informed the rest. The girls moved to comply with her request only to find a major kink in the plan, the big doors were motorized.

"How are we going to get this door open?" Kagura asked after trying to lift the door manually.

"Maybe there is a generator nearby," Sakaki suggested. And with that the girls left the structure in search of electricity.

With more than a little luck the girls found said electricity in the form of a generator on the side of the building opposite the collapsed side. "I'll get this working in no time!" Kaorin confidently exclaimed as she tried to start the device, only to find it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Let me go get some tools from inside," Kaorin said with a sigh leaving the other girls by the generator.

"This is great," Kagura marveled, "Things never go this well."

"Maybe you gettin' shot in tha face was a good omen," Osaka concluded.

"D-Don't remind me," Kagura muttered as she gently placed her hand on the wound.

"Guys," Sakaki stated to get the others' attention before pointing down the road.

"Shit," Kagura cursed before running into the building to get Kaorin.

"Kaorin!" Kagura hollered as she flung the door open, "We gotta go!"

"I've almost gathered up all the stuff I need, what is it?" Kaorin asked as she continued sorting through the tools.

"No time!" Kagura dismissed as she took Kaorin by the hand and dragged her out of the building.

As soon as they were outside Kaorin wrenched her arm out of Kagura's grip. "What the hell?" Kaorin demanded.

"Look," Sakaki said once again pointing. Ominous black clouds were rising above the horizon and encroaching rapidly upon the girls.

"We've got to get back to the station!" Kaorin exclaimed and started rushing off only to be held back by Kagura.

"We'd get caught in the rain if we tried that!" Kagura shouted at Kaorin, "We have to hunker down here."

"Inside the garage?" Sakaki asked knowing full well the collapsed side would allow easy access for the insects.

"Kaorin," Kagura said sympathetically, "We need to find a good place to hide."

The girl in question was very clearly distraught. "We're going to die," Kaorin mumbled as she stared off at the approaching storm clouds.

"Come on!" Kagura urged as she tried to pull Kaorin away, but the distressed woman wouldn't budge. Quickly getting fed up with the troubled woman Kagura grabbed her shoulder, spun her around, and slapped her. "Get a hold of yourself!" Kagura barked as she grabbed Kaorin by the collar of her shirt, "You really will die if you don't get it together!"

"Over here!" Sakaki shouted as she waved to the two girls from amidst the rubble of the collapsed portion of the garage. Kagura abandoned the still dazed Kaorin and quickly joined the other two girls. "Look what Osaka found," Sakaki said as she pointed to what appeared to be a bus door lying behind some rubble. There was a bus completely sealed in by the rubble. With any luck it would be mostly intact and they could hide inside once they had dug the door out. Grabbing the large, thick piece of concrete blocking the door Kagura tried to move the heavy object, but to no avail.

"Help me with this," Kagura asked Sakaki as she continued to try and shift the heavy object. The tall girl complied, but even with her assistance they couldn't dislodge it.

As they tried to get at a different angle a large steel pipe appeared sticking into the rubble. "Here," Kaorin offered with a guilty heart, "A lever will give us a lot more force." After applying the pipe behind the large obstruction the three girls were able to shift the rubble and free up the door.

"Let's get inside!" Kagura ordered as she forced the door open. "Hurry up," the tomboy barked as she ushered the other girls inside before following through herself. Kagura made sure to close the feeble bus door behind her, as if it would stand up to the raw power of an insect.

The girls' new shelter was partially crushed by the rubble. The rear end of the bus was crushed in, limiting the space inside. It was also full of a disgusting smelling mold that was growing on the decaying seats.

"This place stinks," Osaka complained as she held her nose.

"At least we're safe," Kagura said with a sigh, "I don't think a bug could fit through that door."

"Turn off your lights," Sakaki suggested as she turned off her own light. Kagura also turned off her light, but Kaorin refused.

"Turn it off," Kagura ordered, "We don't want to attract any attention to ourselves."

Kaorin still refused. "You said they can't fit!" she reasoned, "So it doesn't matter if they find us!" Kagura was about to yell at Kaorin, but was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a downpour.

"It's raining," Osaka observed.

Getting fed up with Kaorin's seemingly insane refusal to extinguish her light Kagura closed the short distance between the two and tried to turn of the light herself. "Come on," Kagura pleaded with Kaorin as she struggled for the light attached to her gun, "It needs to be turned off!" Kagura managed to turn it off, but irritatingly Kaorin immediately turned it back on again. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Kagura demanded, "I thought you were afraid of bugs!? You're going to give us away!"

"I don't care!" Kaorin retorted.

"Yes you do!" Kagura insisted, "I _know_ you care!"

Their argument was brought to an early end when a loud crash rang out. The fighting duo turned to see Sakaki bring her weapon to bear and begin firing out the door. Cursing under her breath Kagura rushed to Sakaki's side to see the insect already dead. It appeared to be a normal sized one. Both girls then watched in muted horror as the pipe they used to shift the rubble snapped and the debris fell back into its original position, sealing the women inside.

"No!" Kagura shouted as she tried desperately in vain to open the door.

"We-We've got to move it!" Kaorin stuttered as she moved to try to move the heavy debris by reaching through the door's broken glass. Putting her anger aside Kagura scrambled to help Kaorin try to move and even Sakaki tried to join in, but in the cramped quarters there was no way for her to get in.

"It won't budge," Kagura said after awhile of futile pushing. Kagura then turned angrily to Kaorin. "This is your fault!" she shouted at her, "We're all going to die because of you!"

Kaorin couldn't say anything and only stared at Kagura as she slowly shook her head. Kaorin then fell to her knees and dropped her rifle, still unable to form any words. The gun spun around and shone the light on a truly disturbed Kaorin as she began to cry. She then grabbed her side arm and placed the muzzle under her chin. In the darkness a single shot rang out.

--At the police station--

"Oh no," Chiyo breathed as she noticed the weather, "It's raining."

"Don't worry," Chihiro reassured, "Those girls are too smart to get caught in the rain. I'm sure they found shelter."

As if on cue a few bugs stormed into the jail to gawk at the girls behind the bars. They easily startled Yomi who immediately tried to get up and kill them.

"Yomi!" Tomo fretted as she tried to keep the woman from hurting herself, "You can't get up!" No sooner did Tomo get Yomi calmed down did the forgetful woman notice the bugs once again. "Stop doing that!" Tomo pleaded as she tried to keep Yomi down.

"I guess maybe we should kill them," Chihiro suggested, "She's just going to keep doing that over and over."

As Chihiro pulled out her gun a giant insect burst into the room and, completely oblivious to the women, began to attack the smaller bugs. The giant bug easily ripped two of the small ones in half before the rest could react. The remaining smaller bugs tried to fend off the giant beast, but were barely able to cripple it before it tore them apart. Having killed all the smaller insects the giant one then dragged a large portion of one of the corpses out of the room.

"W-What the hell was that?!" Tomo exclaimed as she looked Chiyo.

Chiyo only shook her head. "I thought I saw normal ones in that nest, but I guess maybe the big ones really are different."

"No," Chihiro contradicted, "remember when we got chased out of my apartment? Those bugs killed that other one. I think they come from two rival nests."

"Rivals?" Tomo, Yomi, and Chiyo asked in unison.

--Back inside the bus--

"Are you okay?" Sakaki asked with a pained look on her face.

Kaorin could only stare at the woman as silent tears streamed down her face. Sakaki had jumped in and grabbed the pistol away from Kaorin's head, but when the weapon went off its bullet tore a hole through Sakaki's right palm. "W-Why?" was the only word Kaorin could choke out. Sakaki just shook her head and wrapped her arms around Kaorin and brought her into an embrace. Kaorin responded by hugging Sakaki as she began to cry into Sakaki's chest.

Unnoticed by Kaorin, Kagura quickly dug through Sakaki's pack and gathered up the necessary supplies to treat Sakaki's injured hand. Kagura then covertly made her way around the duo and did her best to treat Sakaki's wound. As she was wrapping gauze around Sakaki's hand the discarded pistol caught Kagura's eye. "Sakaki should have just let her kill herself," Kagura bitterly thought as she finished bandaging the wound.

Her task complete, Kagura got up and slowly made her way around the bus looking for a way out. "There must be a way," Kagura thought as she critically eyed each window and the collapsed side of the bus.

A/N: I bet you thought Kaorin really died, huh? Now before you Kaorin fans start throwing things at me I should let you know that things will get better for that little bundle of nerves, but things will get worse before they get better. The next chapter will also be a dramatic one. Yomi's condition hasn't changed much, but I would like to reiterate that she is getting better. The story isn't really moving forward and the next chapter won't get anything done either, so actual progress seems to be far away. Although to be honest there isn't a whole lot of progress to be made before that finish line is in sight.


	13. Claustrophobia

--After three days of rain the sun finally shone through revealing the familiar police station--

A heavy air of anticipation enveloped the girls. Now that it wasn't raining their friends would show up anytime, right? This sentiment was shared throughout the familiar jail cell. Even Yomi was worried about them. Over the days her memory had improved and while it still failed often she was now more or less functional. She still suffered from minor aphasia and now that she was aware of her impediment it irritated her to no end.

"If they don't get back here by…by…soon," Yomi spoke out, still having difficulty finding the words she is looking for, "Tomo should go get them."

"No way," Chihiro refused, "It's an unnecessary risk for any of us to do anything alone."

"They might need…they need…Tomo needs to see if they are okay!" Yomi retorted.

"I'll go," Tomo volunteered, "If they aren't back by dusk I'll go look for them in the morning."

"I hope they're okay," Chiyo admitted, "They didn't have three days worth of food and water."

--Back in the sealed bus--

The girls had been trapped inside for three whole days in the miserable, wet, dark, and moldy bus. They discovered where the mold came from too. A few minutes after being sealed in the bus began leaking everywhere, soaking the girls. The subsequent chill caused the girls to huddle together for warmth, but due to the friction between Kagura and Kaorin they split up into pairs. Kagura was huddled together with Osaka while Kaorin was with Sakaki on the opposite side of the bus. Thanks to the rain they still had plenty of water, but they had completely run out of food the previous day.

"Hey, listen," Osaka suddenly spoke up. All of the girls obliged, but no sound reached their ears.

"I don't hear anything," Kagura informed her.

"The rain stopped," Sakaki observed.

At hearing that Kagura lazily got up off of the moldy seat and made her way to the door. "It really did stop," Kagura observed as she looked out through the small gaps in the rubble.

"Are we still trapped?" Osaka inquired. They had tried several different ways to get out. From using leverage against the debris to trying to dig out, but found it impossible to make any real progress.

After feebly trying to move the debris Kagura shook her head. "It won't budge," Kagura informed everyone, "but there has to be a way out. I refuse to die in here!"

Osaka also decided to get up as she stared at all the windows before setting her gaze on Kagura. "We can't move tha big piece, but maybe we can dig out through a window or somethin'," the spacey girl offered.

"Maybe if we could just break this dumb thing apart," Kagura said motioning to the debris sealing them in.

"Would those work?" Osaka asked pointing to the remaining grenades Kagura still held.

"Hey! That's a good idea!" Kagura exclaimed. "Everyone get to the back!" Kagura loudly announced as she pulled a grenade free. It took a minute for Sakaki to coax Kaorin to move, but once that was done all the girls minus Kagura got as far back in the bus as they could. Kagura then jammed the bomb into the debris at its base. She then psyched herself up before pulling the pin and releasing the lever before running to where the other girls were. No sooner did Kagura hunker down did the bomb explode with a deafening blast. Kagura eagerly made her way to the door whilst Sakaki made sure everyone was okay.

Much to Kagura's chagrin the debris didn't budge. After trying to once again force the rubble aside Kagura turned to the others once again. "Any Ideas?" she inquired.

Kaorin dug inside the rubble at the collapsed end of the bus and retrieved an object. She then slowly pulled herself to her feet and walked over to Kagura. "Here," Kaorin offered as she handed Kagura a sharp piece of metal before slumping down her knees and resting against a seat.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Kagura asked as she looked to Kaorin.

"It's a chisel…start digging," Kaorin offered.

"It's your idea! You dig!" Kagura ordered. Kaorin feebly retrieved the piece of metal and crawled over to the door. She then looked around for something she could use as a hammer.

"Kagura, you find a chisel too," Sakaki offered as she moved next to Kaorin and observed the door. Sakaki then traced a line across the large slab of manmade rock. "Cut along here," Sakaki explained, "And we'll push the top half off and we can squeeze out." As Kagura returned with her own chisel and a large rock for a hammer Sakaki showed Kagura what to do and ordered her to start cutting on the side opposite Kaorin's.

Sakaki wished she could help more, but her injured hand made it difficult to hold anything, let alone work a tool. The tall woman made her way next to Osaka. "Are you all right?" she inquired.

"It won't even turn on now," Osaka lamented as she toyed with her camera. She had done her best to protect it but there was just too much moisture. "Do ya think it'll be okay when it dries out?" Osaka inquired as she replaced it into her bag.

"I don't know," Sakaki admitted.

"Now no one will know what happened ta us if we die in here," Osaka lamented.

"I'm sure we'll dig ourselves out soon," Sakaki offered, "I'm sure we'll make it out alive."

Osaka shook her head. "I'm really hungry and cold," Osaka said remorsefully.

In response Sakaki wrapped Osaka into an embrace. "Is this better?" Sakaki asked as she held Osaka close.

"It's warm," Osaka admitted, "but I can't eat it."

As Sakaki sat down with Osaka in her arms she couldn't help but let her thoughts travel to Kaorin. They were all hungry and they had eaten just yesterday, but Sakaki knew that Kaorin hadn't eaten since they had become trapped in this hell. Sakaki was barely able to even get the girl to drink anything. "Is she trying to starve herself to death?" Sakaki's thoughts wondered. That didn't make sense. Despite her trying to shoot herself she still had her weapons. If she really wanted to die she could easily shoot herself. "Why?" the tall woman continued to wonder.

--A few hours later--

The monotonous pounding of the girls' tools quickly put Osaka to sleep and even Sakaki fell into slumber. Finally having cut a line from one edge to the center of the obstruction Kagura decided to sit back, take a break, and examine her work. Turning on her flashlight she finally got a good luck at the chiseled stone.

Much to her frustration the cut wasn't even that deep. "This is going to take forever," Kagura angrily mumbled. She didn't know how long they'd been working, but it seemed like ages. And with no food in her belly Kagura was thoroughly and completely exhausted. "I wonder how she can keep going," Kagura wondered as she watched Kaorin diligently continue hammering away at the rock.

"Ka-Kagura, shine that light over here again," Kaorin requested.

Obliging Kagura got right up next to Kaorin and shone the light on her chiseled work. Kaorin hadn't made it nearly as far as Kagura had, but she had gotten much deeper. "What is that?" Kagura asked as she peered into the rift.

"Damn it!" Kaorin suddenly yelled as she threw her tools, "It's rebar!"

Kaorin's noise startled Sakaki and Osaka out of their slumber. "What's going on?" Sakaki asked as she stood, causing Osaka to fall into the floor.

"We're screwed," Kaorin said as she began to cry.

"There's rebar here," Kagura explained, "Is there any way around it?" Sakaki slowly shook her head. "Any…Any other ideas?" Kagura desperately asked.

"There is nothing more," Kaorin morosely said, "All that's left if for us to starve to death."

"We-We have to be able to do _something_!" Kagura contradicted, "I refuse to just sit here and die!" In spite of her enthusiasm the other girls all seemed to have given up. "Come on," Kagura desperately coaxed, "We can't die…not like this."

--Several hours later--

After scouring every inch of the bus for another option even Kagura had also fallen into despair. "I don't want to die," Kagura sedately complained.

"Hey," Osaka spoke up, "When one of starves to death would it be okay to eat them?"

"No!" Kagura and Sakaki replied simultaneously.

"I'll die first," Kaorin assured, "I don't care if you eat me."

"How can you say that?" Sakaki demanded.

"It's my fault," Kaorin admitted, "If it means giving you guys even a little more time and another sliver of hope I want you to eat me after I die. Besides, I don't…I can't watch anyone else die."

No one had a response, but Kagura found something to pick apart after a minute. "How are you so sure you're going to die first?" Kagura prodded, "If you're getting any ideas I'm taking that gun away from you."

"I haven't eaten since the morning we left the police station," Kaorin admitted, "and I'm not going to kill myself, not yet."

"What do you mean 'not yet'?" Kagura asked as she got up and moved so she could actually see Kaorin.

"None of you are hungry enough to eat me. You'll only do it when you are at death's door," Kaorin explained, "Besides, I deserve this pain. I don't deserve relief."

"I think I preferred bitchy Kaorin to pathetic Kaorin," Kagura complained as she flopped back down.

"I miss the normal Kaorin," Sakaki mentioned, words that cut through Kaorin like a dagger.

After another few minutes of suffocating silence Kagura just had to speak again. "Why are you so eager to die?" Kagura demanded, "You say you deserve this, but all in all you haven't done any real damage, even if you intended to."

Kaorin let out a dry laugh at Kagura's words. "You of all people are saying I don't deserve to die?" Kaorin mocked, "You who told me I should kill myself?"

"If you really want to I won't stop you," Kagura admitted, "but I would like to know why you're so eager to throw everything away."

"Throw what away?!" Kaorin demanded, "We've nothing! We haven't had anything worth living for since everyone died and those monsters showed up! And now we're going to die in here because of my stupidity!"

"It's not all your fault," Kagura conceded, "That damned bug is the one that knocked that crap back into place."

"Why?" Kaorin said with doubt evident in her voice, "Why are you standing up for me now? You're always pushing me down so why are you defending me now?!"

"Grudges seem kinda dumb in this situation," Kagura informed Kaorin.

--Dusk, at the police station--

The tension amongst the women was palpable. After three days of rain the other girls surely would have set back for the station as soon as the sun came out, right? "I-I'll try to find them tomorrow," Tomo proclaimed, breaking the heavy silence.

"You can't go alone," Chihiro protested, "Someone needs to go with you."

"Who can go with me?" Tomo asked rhetorically, "None of you can get around."

"What-What will we do if we don't find them?" Yomi asked seriously.

"You can't think like that!" Chiyo protested, "It's way too soon to even consider _that_!"

"Maybe," Chihiro started with a heavy heart, "Maybe we shouldn't even send Tomo to try and find them. We don't know where to even start looking and if they really were okay they would have come back on their own."

"I want to at least look for them," Tomo replied, "And I'm sure I'll be okay by myself."

"It's not worth it," Yomi said, "To risk your life all by yourself to try and find them."

"I don't care," was Tomo's simple reply.

--Dawn, at the police station--

As promised Tomo set out by herself to try and find the missing women. "If I were Kagura, which way would I go?" Tomo mused aloud, "Or did Kaorin lead them?" She hadn't even made it off the front steps to the police station and Tomo was considering giving up. After a moment of consideration Tomo decided to just walk aimlessly until she found them. "Kagura! Sakaki! Osaka! Kaorin!" Tomo kept shouting her friends' names as she walked in hopes that somehow her voice would reach them. After walking in one direction for some time Tomo considered backtracking and trying a different direction. "This is hopeless," Tomo admitted even though no one was around to hear, "We should have gotten radios or something." Tomo decided to turn around and go back to the station. "I wonder what I'm going to tell everyone," she lamented as she started back. Tomo didn't make it far when a sudden impact from behind sent her painfully to the ground and her shotgun skidding away from her. Tomo quickly turned around to find a giant insect hovering over her. "How?!" her mind screamed as her body and senses failed her. Frozen with fear she found herself unable to move a muscle as the insect lurched to bite her.

Tomo closed her eyes shut and prepared for the searing pain, but after a moment she realized nothing was happening. Peeking out, she saw…nothing. No flesh rending maw. No powerful and frightening claws. No giant insect. Blinking Tomo looked around, but was unable to find even the slightest sign of a bug. "W-What?" Tomo stammered out loud. She got up and dusted herself off as she wondered if there ever was an insect as she retrieved her gun. "What the hell?" Tomo thought as she started once more for the police station, "Am I going crazy?"

A few blocks later the wildcat came upon an intersection when a giant insect crawled out into the middle of the street before setting its gaze on Tomo. This time with her gun in hand she raised the weapon and began firing and to her surprise the insect fell back and scrambled away. Tomo just stared at where the bug was. She had never seen a bug get scared and run away before. After pondering it for a minute Tomo ran to where the bug was. "Was it here at all?" she whispered as she looked for some kind of proof that the bug had existed at all. Starting to get really scared Tomo decided to run the rest of the way back to the police station. The entire way back Tomo was certain she kept seeing bugs scampering about out of the corner of her eye, but whenever she turned her head she saw nothing. Tomo was relieved to see the familiar sight of the police station finally come into view. Her relief was fleeting, however, as she was suddenly thrown from her feet once more. This time instead of being thrown by an impact the ground itself tripped her. "An earthquake?!" Tomo cried as she covered hear head.

--Inside the sealed bus--

Fighting off boredom and the depressing thoughts of a slow death Kagura decided to entertain everyone retelling her and Osaka's tale of what happened since the outbreak.

--Flashback--

"What do you mean we can't come in?!" Kagura yelled at a man in a hazmat suit armed with a menacing rifle in front of a hospital, "My friend is sick! She needs help!"

"This hospital is under quarantine," the man informed her with indifference, "No one may enter." The man then eyed the nearly unconscious girl in Kagura's arms. "It doesn't matter for your friend anyways," he explained, "Not a single person infected with _that_ has ever left through the front door."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Kagura demanded.

"_That_," he said pointing to Osaka, "is a death sentence. No amount of medicine will save her. Just take her home and let her die in peace. After that when you get sick you should stay home too."

"You bastard!" Kagura yelled at the man, "You can't tell us to just go home and die! Let us in!"

The man then shoved the rifle in Kagura's face. "Okay," he said mockingly, "You can have a choice then. Go home and die or I can shoot you where you stand. Which would you prefer?"

"Can you tell us where there is a hospital that isn't under quarantine?" Kagura choked out through grit teeth.

The man then proceeded to laugh in her face. "All hospitals are under quarantine," he cruelly informed Kagura, "Just go home and die where you can't infect anyone."

"I'm so sorry, Osaka," Kagura apologized to the semi-conscious girl in her arms as she started back to their apartment.

--At Kagura and Osaka's apartment--

Kagura delicately placed Osaka on her bed. "Is there anything I can get for you?" Kagura asked with a heavy heart. Osaka didn't respond. "O-Osaka?" Kagura asked as she went to the girl to make sure she was okay. The tomboy put her ear to Osaka's chest to listen for her breathing and heartbeat. She was relieved to find her okay. "She's asleep," Kagura mused. Kagura then began to pace as she fretted over the situation. Her mind wandered in circles for some time and was only interrupted by a tickle in her throat. She then descended into a coughing fit, a very frightening thing. Kagura eagerly checked her hands for signs of blood and was relieved to find none. "It's just a cough," she said to reassure herself. Kagura then looked to Osaka. "How did it start with her?" she asked herself as she tried to remember. Osaka's first symptom was her fever. Kagura rushed to retrieve the device before taking her own temperature. The meter displayed her temperature clearly: 39.0 degrees Celsius. "Damn it," Kagura cursed as she held back her own tears. Kagura's lament was cut short by the phone ringing. Kagura slowly moved to answer it. "Hey," Kagura said as she answered the phone.

"Kagura! Are you and Osaka okay?!" Sakaki's desperate voice sounded over the phone.

"Sakaki!" Kagura exclaimed, "Sakaki, can you help us? Osaka's really sick and I'm coming down with it too. The hospital turned us away. Is there anything we can do?"

"Y-You're sick?" Sakaki questioned.

"Yeah, can you help us?" Kagura questioned with hope in her voice, "You're a vet." Before Sakaki could respond there was an audible click. "Hello?" Kagura desperately asked, "Hello?!" Receiving no answer Kagura hung up the phone and picked it up again. "No dial tone," Kagura lamented as she started to cry.

--Back to the present--

"I was really worried about you," Sakaki admitted.

"Did you ever get sick at all?" Kagura questioned.

Sakaki shook her despite the fact that no one could really see her. "I never really did," Sakaki admitted, "Nothing serious anyway."

"What about you, Kaorin?" Kagura asked. Kaorin didn't respond. "You still with us?!" Kagura questioned as she turned on her flashlight and pointed it in Kaorin's direction. She was still there and okay.

"It's too bright," Kaorin complained as she tried to shield her eyes with her hand.

Shutting off the light Kagura restated her question, "Did you get sick?"

"I almost died," Kaorin said dismissively.

Not catching on Kagura continued to prod. "What happened?" she asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said this time with even more disdain in her voice.

"Fine," Kagura dismissed, "Now where was I?"

--Flashback, the following morning--

The first thing Kagura did after waking up and checking on Osaka was to check her own temperature. She stared angrily at the device. It read 39.2. "Damn it," Kagura cursed. Throughout the night she'd been feeling worse and worse, although it could have been due to her growing paranoia over the matter. Kagura had decided last night that today she would have to go get some food, but now she wasn't feeling well at all and on top of everything else Osaka only seemed to be getting worse. She could barely get her to sit up this morning. "Hang in there, Osaka," Kagura told her friend as she prepared to leave, "I'll get some groceries and I'll be right back, I promise." Kagura then threw on her jacket before leaving the apartment. Upon leaving the house Kagura was irritated to find it drearily raining. "This is going to be fun," Kagura woefully lamented before setting off. After jogging for a few minutes it occurred to Kagura that something was terribly wrong. She hadn't encountered a soul and it seemed everything was dead quiet. "That's right," Kagura reminded herself, "The power and everything is out."

Upon arriving at the convenience store Kagura found the doors to be locked. "Shit," she cursed out loud as she pounded on the door, or at least she tried. Unnoticed by Kagura the glass door had already been broken causing her to lose her balance and fall through the door. Letting out a grunt Kagura pulled herself up off of the floor as she looked around. The store was in shambles. Rotting food, boxes, and many other pieces of garbage were strewn about everywhere. "I hope this is okay," Kagura mused as she gathered up anything that looked still okay to eat. After several minutes of scavenging she came across the medicine aisle where she got everything she thought she and Osaka could use before piling all of her ill gotten goods into bags and left the store feeling more than a little guilty. Stepping back out into the rain Kagura ran back to her apartment as quickly as her weakened body would allow.

When she crested the stairs Kagura came upon an unsettling sight. Her apartment door had been torn off its hinges. Dropping her bags, Kagura dashed inside to make sure Osaka was okay. She found Osaka lying on her bed staring off at the ceiling.

"I must be dreaming," Osaka choked out.

"You're not dreaming," Kagura assured her, "Are you okay?"

"No," Osaka replied, "We're gonna die."

"I'm not even that sick yet," Kagura reasoned as she walked into the room, "I'm sure we'll be fine."

Osaka shook her head, although her eyes never looked away from what they were staring at. "It's gonna eat us," Osaka mumbled.

"What's going to…" Kagura started as she finally looked to where Osaka was staring. Attached to the ceiling was a ghastly white insect the size of a bear. Unable to contain herself, Kagura let out a piercing scream causing the insect to suddenly spring to life as it dropped off the ceiling and charged at Kagura. Her instincts taking control, Kagura dashed out of the room with the bug hot on her heels. Kagura made it out of her apartment as the bug overtook her and, fortunately for Kagura, the bug overshot and ended up ramming through the railing and crashing down two floors to the ground.

Kagura ran back into the apartment, but realized with no door there was nothing stopping that _thing_ from chasing after. If she led it back to Osaka…she couldn't let that happen. Swallowing her fears she stepped back outside with the intention of leading it away from the apartment. Finding no signs of the monster she warily approached the broken railing and looked over. What Kagura saw was a horrible, wonderful sight. By some miracle the bug landed on a pole and was impaled upon it. It continued to try to crawl but was held fast by the pole. Kagura slowly recovered from the sight as her mind raced trying to decide what she should do. She recovered her forsaken groceries as she slowly made her way back inside. "Osaka, are you all right?" she asked as she once more set her gaze on her friend. Osaka started to answer, but it was quickly interrupted by a coughing fit. After Osaka had recovered Kagura moved to wipe away all the blood Osaka managed to cough up. "I brought medicine," Kagura said to reassure her weary friend, "And food too, but we can't stay here. Do you have any ideas?"

"I wanna stay here," Osaka replied.

"What if another…another _thing_ comes?" Kagura pleaded, "It took out the door." Osaka didn't respond. Giving up on moving her for now Kagura quickly gathered up the medicine and helped Osaka take anything and everything she brought that she thought could help. "I should take some of this too," Kagura mused as she herself also took a dose of most everything she brought back.

After taking her temperature again she thoughtlessly took Osaka's too. "This is…really bad," Kagura lamented as she stared at the device, "You're burning up." The thermometer read 41.1. Kagura made her way to the kitchen and dumbly opened the freezer hoping for ice forgetting that they had no electricity. "What am I going to do?" Kagura asked no one in particular. "I'm not the smart one. I don't know what to do!" she cried out as she slammed the freezer closed, "Sakaki!" Sakaki was okay, she had talked to her just yesterday. What's more is it would probably be safe with Sakaki and if anyone would know what to do it would be her. "Osaka," Kagura started to explain as she reentered the room, "We're going to Sakaki's apartment. It will be safe there and she can help you get better." Osaka tried to protest, but only ended up coughing again. After cleaning her up again Kagura lifted the girl into her arms and left the apartment. As she stepped back outside she noticed the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. "Things are starting to look up," Kagura mused out loud as she made her way down the steps. As she made her way to the street she noticed the impaled bug had died.

--Back to the present--

"You never made it to my apartment," Sakaki noted.

"That's not true," Osaka replied, "It just took us a long time."

"We got like halfway there," Kagura explained, "And we had to stop. We stayed in someone's house."

"Kagura got real sick," Osaka explained, "But I got better so I could take care of her like she did for me."

"Ah!" Osaka exclaimed as she remembered something. She then pulled out the still damp camcorder from its case. "That house is where I found this," the spacey girl explained, "The tape inside showed tha family that lived there an' how they died. I decided that if me an' Kagura died someone should record it so whoever finds it would know who we were and how we died." Osaka then stared at the object. "But if we die here I don't think anyone would get to see it," Osaka lamented.

"What happened next?" Sakaki inquired.

"We got to your place and you weren't there," Kagura informed her, "So we assumed you had died. After that we just wandered around looking for people, although nothing really happened until we found Kaorin and Tomo."

"Yomi came to my place and took me away to look for Tomo," Sakaki explained, "We couldn't find her."

Once again as the conversation came to an end a crushing silence enveloped the entombed women. Kagura sighed as she laid back. Her hunger was really starting to bother her. Seemingly following the same train of thought Osaka spoke the words on Kagura's mind. "Do ya think it would be okay ta eat this mold?" the spacey girl asked.

"I don't think it's toxic," Sakaki suggested, "Since we've been here and none of us are sick, but I wouldn't try to eat it either."

"Why not?" Kagura demanded.

"It could still be very bad for you," Sakaki explained, "Even fatal."

"I'll try to eat some," Kaorin offered, "If I die then you guys will know it's not okay."

"Hell no," Kagura refused, "If that stuff is bad you're not gonna eat it!"

"What do you care?" Kaorin asked with a hollow voice, "Didn't you say you wouldn't care if I died?"

"So I lied!" Kagura shouted, "I'm still not going to let you do something so stupid!"

"Eating something that has a possibility of being edible is 'so stupid' and yet it's perfectly fine if I shoot myself?" Kaorin mocked, "You really are an idiot."

"Okay, I'm sorry I ever said those things," Kagura admitted, "I've been a real bitch to you." Kaorin only laughed. "W-What?" Kagura asked, "I'm serious! I didn't mean all those things. I was just…just…I don't know the word."

"Angry? Vengeful? Psychotic?" Kaorin suggested with malice starting to show in her voice.

"Disappointed!" Kagura snapped, "You were friends with everyone. You were strong, smart, and talented. Then I found you trying to kill your friends and yourself! Did you expect me to be proud of what you have become?!" Kaorin went silent again.

"Hey Sakaki," Osaka started after another few moments of silence, "How long can people live without food?"

"I'm not sure," Sakaki admitted, "At least a couple of weeks, probably longer."

"A couple of weeks?!" Kagura exclaimed, "We'll die of boredom long before then!"

"I'd show ya some of tha videos, but my camcorder is broken," Osaka lamented.

"Shadow puppets?" Sakaki offered.

"You're kidding, right?" Kagura scoffed, "We should do something productive."

"Did you have something in mind?" Sakaki inquired.

Kagura shook her head. "Not really," she lamented, "but hell, if we have two weeks we could probably saw through that rebar."

"With what?" Kaorin demanded.

"I dunno, but we have to try something," Kagura assured, "It's not like a way out is going to suddenly appear." As if the gods heard her words the ground began to shake as the girls were tossed around the bus.

"An earthquake?!" Kaorin shouted as she covered her head reflexively. The girls all hunkered down as the shaking tore the buried bus apart and it filled with rubble.

A/N: Conversions for the Celsius challenged: 39.0C=102.2F, 39.2C=102.6F, and 41.1C=106.0F. Oh, and for the record, Tomo isn't going crazy. Rather the insects are blessed with that primal instinct many animals seem to have and were spooked by the impending earthquake. Overall, I'm not happy with the flashback. It's not that there is anything wrong with it, but it seemed to neither give any insights into the story or show any significant character building events. Although it did take the time to explain Osaka's camera. But aside from that it's more or less some of the first frivolous filler this story has seen, or at least that I can recall. I guess I just needed something distracting from the constant back forth of Kagura and Kaorin. Maybe I should have given the group in the cell more facetime instead. They hardly had a place in this chapter at all.


	14. Out of the Frying Pan

--Inside the police station just after the quake--

"Is everyone okay?!" Chiyo shouted after the ground stopped shaking.

"I'm fine," Chihiro dismissed.

"I'm…um…it's not…" Yomi stammered as she tried to find the right word.

"She's fine," Chihiro announced after checking Yomi over quickly.

"What about Tomo?" Yomi asked as she started to panic, "Tomo's not here!"

"Tomo left awhile ago," Chiyo explained, "She went to look for the others."

"She's out there?!" Yomi asked, "Tomo…she's…it's…we have to find her!"

"We aren't in any condition to do that," Chihiro explained, "I'm sure she's on her way back. She's gotta know that we're worried about her."

"Guys!" a familiar voice shouted. "Is everyone okay?!" Tomo asked as she dashed into the room and up to the cell.

"Tomo!" the trio shouted in unison.

"Tomo are you…did you…" "I'm fine," Tomo said, predicting what is was Yomi was trying to ask.

"We're all okay too," Chihiro announced as Tomo opened the cell and walked in before closing and locking the door behind her, "Did you find any signs of Kaorin and the others?"

Tomo shook her head. "They didn't say where they were going," Tomo admitted, "I have no clue where to look for them."

"What are we going…" Chiyo started to ask what they were going to do, but was cut off by a violent aftershock.

--At the bus depot--

The earthquake had leveled the entire servicing garage rendering to nothing more than a large pile of rubble. A small section of rubble slightly shifted before being pushed up and away revealing a dirty, but otherwise unhurt woman. After coughing and sputtering at the upturned dust, Kagura looked around for her friends. "Osaka! Sakaki! Kaorin!" Kagura desperately shouted when she found no signs of her friends. Picking a random location she began sifting through the rubble as she continued shouting in hopes of finding signs of life. After several seconds a bit of motion caught Kagura's eye. Kagura moved quickly to try and shift the rattling piece of rubble aside, but found it to be too heavy. "Wait here!" Kagura shouted in hopes that whoever it was could hear her as she searched for something to use as a lever. After grabbing a length of metal Kagura returned, but was unable to recall where to dig. "Hey!" she yelled as she looked about, "Where are you?! I don't see you!" In response to her voice she heard muffled sounds and saw movement again. She quickly darted over and used her newfound tool to force the rubble aside.

"Kaorin!" Kagura greeted as soon as the dust settled, "Are you okay?! Where are Osaka and Sakaki?!"

Kaorin didn't fare as well as Kagura. She was bleeding from an unseen wound on her head and various other scratches and bruises. "I don't know," Kaorin admitted once she had recovered from a coughing fit.

Kaorin's demeanor suddenly took a dramatic turn as she quickly drew her weapon and pointed it in Kagura's direction and began firing.

"What the hell?!" Kagura exclaimed as she covered her head. It took her a few seconds to realize that Kaorin wasn't shooting at her. She turned to see a giant insect barreling down upon them. Thanks to it being attached to her by its strap, Kagura still had her rifle. She drew said weapon, made certain the safety was off, and began assisting Kaorin. A seemingly futile effort as the giant insect easily closed the distance to the girls, but the bug suddenly stopped a few meters from the duo. It then turned on its heels and began to scurry away. "Yeah!" Kagura shouted, "We scared it off!"

Kaorin immediately forgot about the bug. "Sakaki!" Kaorin yelled desperately, "Sakaki, can you hear me?!" Both girls heard the unmistakable sound of muffled gunshots.

"Where?" Kagura questioned as she looked out across the rubble. Before they could locate the origin of the sound the ground once more shook violently and tossed both Kaorin and Kagura off their feet. Kaorin ended up landing on top of Kagura who took a nasty hit onto the unstable rubble.

As soon as the shaking stopped Kaorin opened her eyes to a terrible sight. Right next to her face was an unmistakable, bandaged hand sticking out of the debris. "Sakaki!" Kaorin cried out as she got off of Kagura and gingerly took the bandaged hand in her own. To Kaorin's delight she felt Sakaki flex her fingers at the touch. Kaorin quickly sprang into action as she tried to remove the heavy debris. "Help me with this Kagura!" Kaorin shouted, "Sakaki's under here!"

Kagura was sitting up, but had a significant problem of her own. In her fall she managed to get a deep cut across her left upper arm. "Give me a hand first," Kagura choked out through grit teeth as she sifted through her pack for gauze.

"Sakaki can patch you up when we get her out!" Kaorin protested as she continued to struggle to remove the rubble.

Kagura couldn't easily patch herself up and it was obvious Kaorin was not about to help. "Fine," Kagura said as she assisted Kaorin as best she could. After removing most of the smaller stuff only a single, large slab remained on top of their friend.

"Get us out!" Osaka's voice echoed up from underneath the same slab, "Sakaki's hurt!" Submitting to her panic Kaorin was somehow able to exert superhuman strength and, despite her terrible condition, moved the heavy slab aside.

With Kagura's help the duo was able to lift out Sakaki and then Osaka who turned out to be right underneath her. While Osaka only had a few scrapes and bruises Sakaki was in pretty bad shape. Her right forearm was very clearly broken and she was bleeding from many open wounds.

"What's wrong?" Kaorin worriedly coaxed.

"Kagura…your arm," Sakaki whispered, "Kaorin…you need to…suture it."

"Forget that!" Kaorin callously shouted, "You need help! What should we do?"

"There isn't anything…you can do for me," Sakaki explained, "But you can help…Kagura."

"Don't say that!" Kaorin desperately begged. Whilst Kaorin fawned over Sakaki, Osaka followed Sakaki's instructions and was tending to Kagura's wound. Kagura gave quite the fuss over the stitches and cried out more than once as Osaka carefully closed the wound. "Sakaki, please hold on," Kaorin begged as she began to treat the wounds she knew how to treat.

Sakaki meanwhile danced about the verge on unconsciousness. "Am I dying?" Sakaki's mind wandered as her vision faded to black.

Having had her wound fully treated Kagura joined Kaorin in helping Sakaki. After wrapping up the tall woman's open wounds Kagura and Kaorin did their best to set and splint Sakaki's mangled arm. "This is really bad," Kagura admitted, "We've got to get back to the others!"

"We can't carry her the whole way," Kaorin admitted as she quickly looked around. "Kagura, you make sure she's okay," Kaorin ordered, "I'm going to find one of these that'll run." And with that Kaorin took off to check out the different busses that had survived the quake.

Kagura didn't know what to do. Sakaki was the one that knew everything about being hurt and sick. "Osaka," Kagura called, but didn't receive a reply. Looking around she found Osaka in the pit she had been pulled out of and she was trying to pry something free. After giving a good tug Osaka fell back onto her backside with her prize in hand: her camcorder. "Osaka," Kagura called again, "Do you know what we should do?"

Osaka took a long look at Sakaki. "We could pray," Osaka offered. Having no other ideas she bowed her head and offered a silent prayer to the gods for her friend. When she opened her eyes Kagura found some good news as a bus came driving up to the edge of the rubble.

The door opened and Kaorin came out. "Let's get her in," Kaorin ordered as she bent down near Sakaki's shoulders, "You get her feet." Combining their strength the duo lifted the unconscious Sakaki and brought her onto the bus and set her down on a bench.

"Come on Osaka!" Kagura shouted to the oblivious woman, "We're going!" Following instructions Osaka climbed onto the bus and took a seat opposite Sakaki's. As soon as they were all in place Kaorin took off for the safety of the police station.

Thanks to the quake the streets were even more difficult to navigate. Many decrepit and unstable buildings were torn asunder by the violent quake causing rubble to fill the streets. Despite the bus's less than spectacular condition Kaorin forced the vehicle through small vehicles and clumps of debris. The reckless driving forced Kagura to stay at Sakaki's side to stabilize her through the rough ride. "Can't you take it easy?!" Kagura shouted as she tried to keep Sakaki's body from thrashing around too much.

"We're not going to get through if I slow down!" Kaorin shouted as she rammed another compact car out of their path.

"This thing is gonna break at this rate!" Kagura replied.

"It doesn't matter so long as it holds out until we get there!" Kaorin yelled back. The loud noise of the engine and overtly loud impacts as the bus tore through small vehicles and piles of rubble attracted unwanted attention. "Kagura! We have company!" Kaorin informed Kagura of the few trailing giant insects, "Osaka you hold Sakaki while Kagura takes care of them!"

After passing off Sakaki to Osaka, Kagura made her way slowly to the back of the bus. Once at the rear Kagura braced herself against one of the seats for support in the thrashing vehicle. She then drew her weapon and shot out the rear windows and moved the rest of the way to the back. Thanks to the tempered glass she was able to hold onto the shot out window frame for support whilst she held the gun out and opened fire on the pursuing insects. After emptying her first clip she was reminded of the grenades across her chest. After replacing the clip she let the gun swing freely from its strap whilst she grabbed one of her few remaining grenades. She pulled the pin out and dropped the grenade outside the window, but unfortunately it didn't explode until after the bugs had passed over it. Grabbing the next grenade Kagura decided to release the lever and cook it off for a couple of seconds before dropping it out the window. This time it managed to blow apart an insect and wounded a couple of others enough for them to abandon chasing the bus. Grabbing her last grenade, Kagura was about to pull the pin out when Kaorin impacted another obstruction. The sudden lurch caused Kagura to drop the unarmed ordnance out the back window where it fell harmlessly to the ground. Now out of grenades Kagura was forced to rely on her rifle to keep the pursuing insects at bay.

As Kagura exhausted her supply of ammo it was becoming apparent that for every bug she managed to deter another one took its place. "It's no good!" Kagura shouted, "They just keep coming!"

"Just keep them busy a little longer!" Kaorin yelled back, "We're almost there!"

Kagura looked at the bugs and then back to Kaorin. "You can't stop!" she yelled, "They'll overwhelm us!"

Kaorin was about to retort, but as the bus collided with a fairly large vehicle it finally reached its limit. No matter how much gas Kaorin applied the wheels received no power. The bus quickly lost momentum as the bugs began jumping on the bus and surrounding it. It ground to halt under the swarm less than a block from the station.

"What do we do?!" Kagura demanded as she shot at random insects as they tried to force themselves inside the bus.

"We fight!" Kaorin yelled as she drew her pistol and joined Kagura in trying to shoot the insects as they tried to enter. Luckily the bus had no openings large enough for the insects to enter aside from the door and windscreen and both of those were still intact. Even more fortunately things were turning into a free-for-all as many of the insects began to fight with each other.

After moving back to the front Kagura handed her pistol to Osaka. "Let's give them hell!" was Kagura's battle cry as Osaka also joined in shooting at the insects as they tore at the metal shielding the girls from their ravenous hunger.

--Inside the police station--

The sound was unmistakable. Tomo clearly heard gunshots, but none of the other girls seemed to hear them over the background noise of nearby insects. Tomo debated for a minute over whether or not to bring it up. If the others didn't hear anything then it could be her mind playing tricks on her again.

"It's…can't you hear it?" Yomi spoke up. "It sounds…it's…"

"Gunshots," Tomo finished Yomi's ramblings.

The other two sat in silence as they listened to the sounds carefully. "How didn't I notice that?!" Chihiro exclaimed, "Someone is out there!"

Tomo climbed to her feet and grabbed her shotgun. "I'll go see if I can help," she announced as she unlocked the cell door.

"You shouldn't go alone," Chihiro protested.

"If it's not far I can go with her," Chiyo offered as she struggled to her feet and used one of Chihiro's crutches as support for her lame leg.

"Take this too," Chihiro offered as she handed over one of her fully automatic pistols to Chiyo followed by a satchel with ammo for the weapon. Now armed, Chiyo left the cell alongside Tomo.

Tomo would have loved to run out and find out right away what was going on, but with Chiyo by her side she had to restrain her pace to a fast walk. The time it took for them to make it out of the station and to street level seemed excruciatingly long for both girls as the heard over and over the gunshots of people who obviously were in need of help. As they stepped out onto the street it was excruciatingly obvious where the commotion was coming from. A bus down the street was covered in at least a dozen insects that were both trying to tear into the vehicle and trying to tear each other apart.

"Let's go, Chiyo," Tomo announced as she started down the street at a pace faster than Chiyo could match. As Tomo ran towards the bus she brought her shotgun to bear and began firing at the insects. Tomo's march was cut short as a few of the insects took notice of the police girl and started after her. Quickly assessing the situation Tomo targeted the lead insect racing towards her as Chiyo came to her aid. Thanks to the fact that most of the insects were at the very least slightly injured it didn't take a whole lot to stop the giants before they could pose a threat.

The immediate threat neutralized, Chiyo and Tomo quickly moved to reload whilst carefully watching the remaining bugs scurrying about the bus. "They're still shooting," Chiyo observed, "That's a good sign."

"Time to be a hero!" Tomo announced as she brought her gun to bear once more. The duo then took pot shots at the insects in hopes that they wouldn't attract attention to themselves. Between the split forces of the women and the infighting it didn't take long for most of the giant bugs to collapse. Once most of the insects had ceased to be a threat Tomo and Chiyo slowly made their way toward the bus while firing at the remaining insects. By the time the duo reached the bus they had incapacitated all of the insects. Tomo proudly strolled up to the mangled door and forced it open. "Oi! We've come to save you!" Tomo announced as she stepped onto the bus. The first person to catch the wildcat's eye was none other than Kaorin. "Damn Kaorin," Tomo said with a huge grin on her face, "Just how many times do I have to save your butt?"

"Ah!" Chiyo exclaimed upon seeing the familiar faces, "I knew you guys were all right!"

"Hey Chiyo, Tomo," Osaka greeted.

"Uwaa!" Chiyo wailed, "Don't point that at me!"

"Huh?" Osaka wondered as she looked to the pistol in her hand. Somehow the spacey girl's lack of awareness caused her to inadvertently fire the weapon, barely missing Tomo and Chiyo.

"Give me that!" Kagura scolded as she took the gun from Osaka.

"That's why I don't usually let her have one," Kagura explained as she holstered the weapon.

Suddenly Kaorin remembered Sakaki's condition. "Tomo!" she excitedly announced, "Help me carry Sakaki! She is really hurt!"

Tomo and Chiyo rushed to see Sakaki and found her pale and wounded appearance more than a little disturbing. "Is she okay?!" Chiyo fretted as she checked Sakaki over.

"No," Kagura told her, "That's why we need to get her someplace safe right away!" Kagura helped Tomo and Kaorin get Sakaki up off of the seat and out the door. Chiyo refused to leave Sakaki's side as Kaorin and Tomo started to carry her toward the station.

"Kagura," Tomo ordered as she and Kaorin started slowly for the police station, "Go open the cell and make a place for her."

"Right," Kagura said as she dragged Osaka along.

--Back inside the station--

"Kagura! Osaka!" Chihiro exclaimed upon seeing her friends she was certain had died, "You're okay! Is Kaorin with you?!"

"She's coming," Kagura said dismissively, "Open the door."

Instead of moving to open the cell, Chihiro simply tossed the key to Kagura. "Is there something wrong?" Chihiro inquired, easily noticing Kagura's demeanor.

"Sakaki's hurt," Kagura informed them as she opened the cell before moving to the adjacent cell and opening it.

"Which cell are we putting her in?" Osaka inquired.

"I dunno," Kagura replied, "That's why I opened both." A few tense moments passed before Kaorin and Tomo showed up carrying Sakaki with Chiyo still at the tall woman's side.

"Move aside!" Kaorin ordered as she and Tomo put Sakaki in the empty cell. Kagura and Osaka eagerly followed them inside as Chiyo checked the tall woman over once more.

"Her breathing is shallow," Chiyo noted as she placed her head on Sakaki's chest.

"Is she going to be okay?" Kaorin anxiously inquired.

"I don't know," Chiyo admitted as she examined Sakaki's wounds, "How did this happen?"

"She was okay until tha second quake," Osaka informed her, "But when everything shook tha second time that big piece fell on her."

Upon receiving this new tidbit Chiyo quickly lifted up Sakaki's shirt to examine her torso. Sakaki's abdomen and chest sported terrible bruises. "This looks bad," Chiyo admitted, "She could be bleeding internally."

"Well fix it then!" Kagura insisted.

"If she is bleeding internally we…we can't do anything to help her," Chiyo informed them, "The only way to fix it is with surgery and we can't possibly do that here. It would be far more fatal than the bleeding."

"Then what do we do?" Kaorin begged.

Chiyo just shook her head. "There isn't anything we can do to really help her," she remorsefully informed everyone as she gingerly placed Sakaki's shirt into its proper position.

A heavy silence ensued as Chihiro and Yomi made their way to observe their friend. "I don't suppose there is any medicine in Sakaki's bag that could help her?" Chihiro suggested, "Maybe something that helps blood clot?"

"I don't know if that would be good or not," Chiyo admitted, "I'm not a doctor."

"So should we try it?" Kagura asked as she sifted through Sakaki's pack before retrieving a few bottles.

"I said I don't know," Chiyo insisted.

"You're the smartest," Kagura insisted, "So it's up to you."

"You can't expect me to make a decision like that!" Chiyo protested as she looked around to see that everyone _did_ expect her to make a decision.

"You're tha only one that knows what to do," Osaka insisted.

"But I don't know!" Chiyo insisted.

"Then I'll decide!" Tomo announced as she looked thoughtful for a moment. "We should give her medicine!" Tomo insisted, "Medicine is always good."

"I don't think we should do that," Yomi countered.

"Why not?" Tomo queried.

"Because you came up with it," Yomi dryly informed the wildcat.

"Gotta side with Yomi on this one," Chihiro commented before Tomo could make a scene.

"What!?" Tomo demanded, "It can't be a bad idea just because I came up with it!"

"If she is still bleeding she will probably die soon," Chiyo interrupted, "I…I'm not sure, but I doubt giving her anything now would help."

"If the bleeding stopped would she be okay?" Kaorin anxiously asked.

Chiyo pondered the question for a minute before responding. "It depends on what caused the bleed," the little genius surmised, "If it was just a vessel or something I guess she would be okay if it stopped, but if the bleed was from an essential organ it could fail or if it's from her intestines she'll get sepsis."

"What's that?" Osaka inquired.

"Sepsis?" Chiyo asked and received a nod from Osaka. "Sepsis is when…" Chiyo started, but decided a real explanation wasn't necessary, "In this situation, sepsis is a death sentence."

"What can we do to stop that?" Kagura asked as she found the bottle she was looking for.

"We can't do anything!" Chiyo screamed as she reached her breaking point. "There is _nothing_ we can do for her!" she continued to shout, "No matter what problem it is if she can't survive it on her own then she is as good as dead! So stop asking me to fix it!" As Chiyo finished her rant she slumped to knees and began to cry.

Osaka was the first to move to comfort her. "I'm sure she'll be fine," Osaka reassured as she approached Chiyo and knelt down by the little genius. "Sakaki's strong, really strong. If anyone is gonna survive it'll be her," the spacey girl assured as she hugged Chiyo.

A/N: I did not get around to several important points I had originally planned to make entirely due to the completely unplanned mortal injury Sakaki has recieved. Hopefully I will get around to these important tidbits in the next chapter and if I don't I will at the very least mention them in the author's notes. As I mentioned before I did not plan on Sakaki being injured (Yomi's injury was unplanned as well and even Chihiro's minor injury wasn't part of the original plan.) I promise after this there will be no unplanned _serious_ injuries. Chapter 14 will take quite some time to put together mostly because now I have Sakaki to deal with. For an overview of the coming chapter for Encroaching Darkness I will write a summary in my profile and will continue to do so for each new chapter. This will occaisionally contain spoilers so if you don't want anything given away surely common sense tells you not to read it. This story is well over halfway done, but the ride still has a few exciting turns left. I look forward to your continued support.


	15. Deja Vu

--The police station the following morning--

Sakaki had made it through the night, although she did not regain consciousness. The other three fared much better, especially after they had eaten. Kagura's arm still bothered her but Kaorin and Osaka were as good as new. "She won't wake up," Chiyo lamented as she checked on Sakaki for what had to be the thousandth time since they had brought her in. The little genius had stayed up the entire night fretting over Sakaki and she was getting ever more frazzled.

Once again retrieving a bottle of water Kagura unscrewed the cap. "I have an idea," the tomboy mentioned as she got up only to have Kaorin snatch the bottle away from her.

"No way," Kaorin scolded, "It's a miracle that worked for Yomi."

"But it worked," Kagura pointed out, "Isn't it worth a try?"

Kaorin looked helplessly to Sakaki before casting her gaze towards the spent genius. "Is it?" Kaorin prodded.

"I-I don't know," Chiyo admitted as she checked Sakaki over once again.

Letting out a sigh Kaorin handed the bottle back to Kagura. "Make sure you don't drown her," Kaorin warned.

Kagura nodded in affirmation as she approached Sakaki and carefully dumped the water over the woman's face. Sakaki sputtered a little, but did not stir. "Should I get another bottle?" Kagura questioned after it had become apparent that Sakaki was not going to wake.

"Don't push it," Kaorin warned, "But I wonder if there is another way to get her to wake up."

"Maybe someone should kiss her," Osaka offered.

"K-K-Kiss her?" Kaorin stammered.

"Yeah," the spacey girl replied, "A kiss always wakes the girl up in tha movies."

"I'll do it!" Kaorin exclaimed, but to her dismay as she turned to Sakaki she found Kagura already planting a kiss on her. "What the hell are you doing?!" Kaorin demanded.

"Osaka said we should try kissing her," Kagura dismissed as she wiped her mouth on her sleeve, "Doesn't look like it worked."

"B-B-But I was going to…" Kaorin stuttered.

"Any more ideas?" Kagura asked as Kaorin dragged herself off to a corner to mope over her lost chance to actually kiss Sakaki.

"We could always pray," Chihiro offered.

"I don't mean to be callous," Yomi interrupted, "but since we can't…um…for Sakaki…"

"Help," Tomo interjected.

"Help Sakaki, we should focus on getting things together."

"We can't just abandon Sakaki here!" Kaorin refused.

"I will be here and so will Chihiro and Chiyo," Yomi assured, "We will take care of…"

"Sakaki."

"Sakaki, so you guys should go get another…"

"Bus," Tomo finished for Yomi.

It was irritating having to have Tomo finish her sentences, but at least now she could convey what she meant without stuttering over and over. "Will this ever go away?" Yomi thought to herself.

"I agree with Yomi," Chihiro announced, "It doesn't take seven people to take care of one."

"We should get radios before anything else," Tomo suggested, "So we can keep in touch."

"That's a really good idea," Chiyo praised, "We used radios a lot back in California." Tomo got up and unlocked her cell and ushered Osaka out of the cell.

"Do ya think we could find some stuff ta fix my camera?" Osaka inquired as she toyed with the unresponsive device, "It's still kinda wet."

"I was just gonna look around the police station for our radios," Tomo informed her.

"Well hurry it up," Chihiro berated as Kaorin let herself and Kagura out of the other cell, "And be sure to carry us over there."

Tomo and Kaorin helped Yomi and Chihiro over, even though Yomi protested that she could walk on her own. After making sure the gimpy duo was comfortable the quartet set out to raid the police station of anything that appeared to be a radio.

The group made several trips bringing anything that appeared to be a radio or anything that appeared to be related to a radio to Yomi to have her try and get the radios working. As she worked on getting the neglected machines in order she constantly asked Chihiro to read various parts and pieces.

After gathering up the last of the radios and the tools Yomi needed all the girls gathered around in the cramped cell with all that equipment to watch Yomi fix everything up. "Why are you here?" Yomi irately barked, "Go get a damned…"

"Screwdriver?" Tomo offered.

"No," Yomi dismissed as she motioned holding a steering wheel and driving.

"A bus?" Tomo guessed again.

"Yeah, go get a bus." The quartet started to leave again only to be stopped by Yomi. "Actually, is there an…a…"

Everyone looked to Tomo to figure out what Yomi meant, but even Tomo seemed to be at a loss. Yomi struggled to think of some way to get across what she wanted, but after a couple of minutes she dismissed the quartet to go ahead and get the bus. The four women then reluctantly left the station and made their way towards the bus depot.

--At the bus depot a couple of hours later--

After arriving it didn't take long for Kaorin to find a working bus. Much to the chagrin of Tomo and Kagura even though it seemed to run just fine Kaorin insisted on tinkering on it. "It runs," Tomo whined, "Why can't we just drive that thing back already?"

"It needs to run well," Kaorin explained from under the hood, "And we can't do a whole lot of repairs at the police station like we can here."

"I can understand that," Kagura grunted as she stepped out of the bus, "but why do you make me load all this crap on here?"

"I'll need those spare parts in case anything breaks," Kaorin shouted as she continued to fidget with the engine.

"Well what else do you need me to load onto here?" Kagura demanded as she walked over and gazed down into the engine to see what Kaorin was doing.

"Anything that's not bolted down," Kaorin informed her. Kaorin then handed her wrench to Kagura. "Actually, grab anything that _is_ bolted down."

Kagura grumbled as she continued to do Kaorin's dirty work. "Why don't you help me?" the tomboy asked Osaka and Tomo, both of whom were perfectly content in just watching.

"I'm pregnant," Tomo pointed out.

"I'll help ya," Osaka offered as she got up.

After a couple more hours of tinkering Kaorin was finally goaded into getting ready to leave. Kagura, with a little help from Osaka, had loaded what she figured had to be enough parts to come to at least three entire engines and enough tires for a convoy. "Let's go already!" Kagura shouted from one of the few seats that wasn't littered with car parts.

"Um…" Kaorin hesitated, "Maybe this isn't a good idea."

"What the hell?!" Kagura demanded.

"We need a vehicle," Tomo pointed out, "That's the whole reason we came here!"

"But…" Kaorin started, "The last time all those bugs attacked us." The group went silent at that. It defiantly was a real threat.

"What choice do we have?" Kagura said, "We gotta get this thing back to the station."

"It won't matter at all if we die trying!" Kaorin retorted.

"Let's just try and take it slow," Tomo offered, "If we get too much attention we can come up with a different plan."

Kaorin started to protest again, but instead she opted to drop it. She then reluctantly started the vehicle. "You three get ready for a fight," Kaorin warned them. "Here Osaka," Kaorin offered as she held out her rifle for the spacey girl, "Just don't point that at anyone." Osaka took the weapon with a grin.

As Kaorin started off the three girls took defensive positions about the bus. Osaka stayed next to Kaorin while Tomo and Kagura moved to the back of the bus. The group barely made it a block before Kagura and Tomo opened fire and a giant insect that had appeared to chase after the sluggish bus. No sooner had the duo shot it down did another bug appear, and another. The girls were able to hold their own, however, at least for a few more blocks.

Their luck abruptly came to an end as several bugs had gathered and they were starting to jump onto the vehicle. "Stop Kaorin!" Tomo ordered, "There's too many!" Much like the last time the insects quickly swarmed over the bus and proceeded to bite angrily at its metal frame. Unlike last time it would appear as though the insects were not interested in fighting one another. As soon as Kaorin shut off the engine the insects addled in spite of the three women shooting at them. Kaorin was quick to draw her pistol and aid in shooting at the near dozen insects that had descended onto the bus. After scurrying about for a few seconds seemingly confused and dazed the bugs managed to rally and began to eagerly try to force their way into the bus. While the metal frame served as a good way to keep the bugs out, it was quickly becoming warped and torn from the relentless attack from the insects.

--Back at the police station--

Most of the radios were already in working order or only slightly malfunctioning so Yomi had them all good as new in a matter of minutes. After getting them all working, Yomi decided to cannibalize a few of the extra radios they wouldn't need and used the parts to improve the rest.

"You're really good at that," Chihiro marveled as Yomi finished tinkering on the last radio.

"They still won't send a…a…a transmission very far," Yomi struggled to explain, "We need a…a…"

"An antenna?" Chiyo proposed.

Yomi nodded. "Yeah," Yomi replied, "I wanted to ask Tomo about it, but I couldn't remember the…the…" Finally getting fed up, Yomi let out a frustrated grunt as she held her head searching for the missing word.

"The word," Chihiro offered a little sheepishly.

"I hate this," Yomi complained as she released her hold on her head.

"I'm sure you'll get better," Chiyo offered, "You just have to hang in there for a while longer." Her words didn't seem to cheer Yomi up at as she laid down letting out another grunt.

"What about that antenna?" Chihiro prodded.

"Do you plan on walking up to the…the roof to fix it?" Yomi spat out sarcastically.

The girls were interrupted by a pained moan. "Sakaki!" Chiyo exclaimed as she moved to check on the battered woman, "Sakaki, are you okay!?"

"It hurts," Sakaki choked out through grit teeth.

"What hurts?" Chiyo prodded.

"Everything hurts," Sakaki replied as she continued to draw in pained breaths.

"Let's get her some medicine," Chiyo shouted to Chihiro and Yomi.

"She probably needs food too," Chihiro surmised as she rummaged through Sakaki's bag looking for her powerful painkillers. "Here," Chihiro said as she tossed a bottle of pills to Chiyo. Chiyo tried to get Sakaki to sit up so she could swallow them, but it seemed even the slightest touch caused poor Sakaki to cry out in pain. Chihiro limped over next to Chiyo to lend her a hand. Chihiro carefully slid her arm underneath Sakaki's shoulders and slowly lifted Sakaki up even as she screamed and protested. "Give her the medicine," Chihiro instructed as soon as she had Sakaki in a sitting position. Chiyo reluctantly followed orders and tried to give Sakaki the pills, but the pained woman was not compliant. "Force her," Chihiro insisted. Chiyo started to protest, but once again tried her best to get Sakaki to take the medication. After a bit of finagling, Chiyo was finally able to get Sakaki to swallow the pills. Once Sakaki had the medicine down Chihiro gently placed Sakaki back down into a supine position. "Let's make her something to eat while that takes effect," Chihiro suggested.

--Inside the stalled bus--

The girls had gotten the upper hand. They managed to slay all the bugs that had initially attacked and were easily taking care of the new ones attracted by the sounds of the slaughter. All was not in their favor, however. It seemed as though giant bugs continued to appear to attack them no matter how many they killed.

"I'm out!" Kaorin shouted as she checked herself over in vain looking for more bullets for her pistol. Tomo had a similar problem. She had already abandoned her shotgun and was now using her revolver to slay the few bugs that crawled onto the scene. It was only a matter of time until Osaka and Kagura would run out too. "What do we do?!" Kaorin thought frantically as she looked around the bus for some sort of answer.

"I need more bullets," Osaka stated as she inadvertently pointed the gun at Kaorin and pulled the trigger to emphasize the fact that the gun was empty.

"I told you not to point that at anyone!" Kaorin scolded as she snatched the gun away from Osaka. Kaorin then dug in her bag and retrieved two clips for the rifle. Her last two clips. "We need to conserve what ammo we have left!" Kaorin shouted over the din of straining metal and gunfire.

"How are we supposed to do that?!" Kagura demanded as she reloaded her own rifle. Kaorin didn't know, but she did know that at the current rate they would be doomed in mere minutes.

"Maybe if we leave them alone they'll kill themselves again!" Tomo offered.

"Do that!" Kaorin agreed, "Stop shooting!"

Kagura reluctantly stopped firing and stood back away from all of the walls. An action shared by the rest of the group. "We're supposed to just sit here?!" Kagura demanded in hushed tones as the group watched the bugs tear at the thin metal protecting them.

"If we use up all the bullets we'll be in the same position in a few minutes anyway!" Kaorin retorted in the same hushed tone.

Not giving a damn for Kaorin's logic Kagura aimed her rifle once more at the nearest giant insect. "Wait!" Tomo urged as she pushed the barrel of the weapon down towards the floor. Kagura begrudgingly complied and once more watched the insects.

Much to her surprise the insects seemed to have slowed down and were not attacking the bus as fervently as before. After several seconds a couple of the bugs stopped attacking the bus altogether. The girls patiently waited in silence as the rest of the bugs eventually lost interest and seemingly abandoned attacking the bus. After it appeared as though the insects had departed Kaorin made sure to silently keep the more eager women from making any noise for another few minutes. Unable to contain herself any longer, it was Tomo who made the first move. She slowly approached the nearest window and cautiously looked out.

"It looks like they're gone," Tomo informed the rest. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief before going to different windows to confirm what Tomo had seen.

"That's weird," Kagura commented as she pulled her head back into the bus, "They're usually really tenacious."

"We should go now that they're gone," Tomo said as she sat down.

"Are you insane?!" Kaorin blurted out a little too loudly. Bringing her voice under control she continued to scold the wildcat. "This damned thing attracts bugs like moths to a flame," she irately informed Tomo, "We're walking back."

"Gotta agree with Kaorin on this one," Kagura said a little reluctantly, "We need a lot more bullets to get this thing back to the station."

"I don't think we have a whole lotta ammo at tha station." Osaka informed them.

"It looks like we're really in a pinch," Kagura admitted as the group started to cautiously exit the bus, "How're we gonna get more bullets without a car?"

"I'm worried about the whole situation," Kaorin admitted, "Even if we do armor the bus would it be worth it? That thing makes bugs come from miles around."

"Once we have it fixed up and lots of bullets more bugs will be better," Kagura responded, "Don't forget that the main thing we need to focus on is making those damned things extinct."

"Our main focus is me!" Tomo corrected as she pompously pointed to herself .

--At the police station--

They managed to get Sakaki to eat and it was a bit easier than getting her to take the medicine now that she wasn't in nearly as much pain. For now it seemed as though Sakaki wanted nothing more than to lie still.

"They've been gone a really long time," Chiyo said apprehensively.

"She probably had to do some repairs and stuff before they brought a bus back," Chihiro reasoned.

"Still," Chiyo pointed out, "they should've been back by now."

"It's not like we can do anything about it," Chihiro said with a sigh.

"They need to get back so we can get these working," Yomi complained as she motioned to the radios.

"In all this time you couldn't get those working?" Tomo prodded with her trademark grin.

"You're back!" Chiyo happily greeted as she noticed that her friends had returned.

"How's Sakaki doing?" Kaorin anxiously asked.

"She's awake," Chiyo informed her, "but she's in a lot of pain."

"You guys sure took you're sweet time getting that bus back here," Chihiro joked as the rest of the group rushed in to see Sakaki.

"About that," Kagura said a little sheepishly.

"We didn't get the bus more than a few blocks," Kaorin admitted.

"And we're outta bullets too," Kagura added.

"What happened?" Chihiro inquired.

"I guess the engine really attracts the big ones," Kaorin explained, "We got overwhelmed."

"Yeah," Kagura butted in again, "So we're gonna need a ton of bullets to get it back here."

"You were attacked?" Chiyo asked, "Are you all okay?"

"Obviously," Tomo pointed out.

"It was really weird," Kaorin admitted, "When we stopped shooting they got bored and left. The normal ones would never have done that."

"We need a vehicle," Chihiro interrupted, "Will any of the ones near the station run?"

Kaorin shook her head. "Even if one did it'd be useless," Kaorin replied, "I told you before that the engine really attracts the big ones so until we get something really armored and enough ammo we can't do anything."

"You can fix these," Yomi interrupted as she pointed at the radios.

"What's wrong with them?" Kagura inquired.

"We need to hook them up to the…" "Antenna," Chihiro finished for Yomi.

"It won't work," Tomo informed them, "There's nothing to power the antenna. Our generator's busted."

The entire group sent an angry glare in Tomo's direction. "There's been a generator here this entire time?!" most of the girls screamed at the same time.

A/N: A bit more humor than my usual work. I couldn't help but have Kagura steal Kaorin's kiss the second the idea of Osaka proposing that Sakaki could be awoken with a kiss like in a fairytale. Anywho I managed to get this chapter out by mostly ignoring Sakaki. I wanted to get more into my favorite character, Yomi, but alas things didn't work out that way. I do hope the dialouge with her isn't too sloppy, but I honestly don't know how to properly present it. It should only stay so fragmented for a couple more chapters as she is going to get better with time. I didn't get much into the strange behavior of the big insects as much as I wanted to either so I will have to cover that another time as well. According my plan they were supposed to have a vehicle by now, but I have to worry about continuity. It didn't occur to me until I was writing it but I couldn't have them take a totally uneventful ride when last time they got swarmed. So now I have to have them go do other things. So annoying.


	16. Back on Track

A/N: Look! It's a new format! I've finally gotten around to reformatting this whole thing and after hours of hitting the enter key I've managed to separate all the dialogue. Scene changes now have "--" before and after the text since a stand alone sentence will no longer stand out. All previous chapters have been reformatted and I have edited some of them to make them better. I tried to improve any point that was criticized previously. As promised the group makes serious progress and I finally covered more of Yomi's condition. Unfortunately despite finally getting things done this chapter came out rather...bad. It's not exciting at all and I dare say it may be the worst so far. And because of reformatting I didn't get to spend much time patching it up either.

--The next morning at the police station--

The previous evening the girls managed to get a radio in each cell hooked up to the antenna and the generator running. Also, Chihiro got to speak privately with Kaorin. Ever since then the two girls had a noticeable friction between them. Complicating manners was the fact that most everyone had tried to get Chihiro to tell them what had happened to Kaorin before she found Tomo. While most were tactful in their approach, others were not. So now, once again, poor Kaorin was in a fight with pretty much everyone.

"You know," Tomo prodded Kaorin, "since Chihiro won't tell us anything _you_ could tell us what happened."

"Shut up!" Kaorin snapped at the wildcat. "It's none of your business! I shouldn't have even told that heartless bitch!" she yelled as she pointed at Chihiro.

"Please don't fight!" Chiyo begged from her position next to Sakaki.

"Let's go," Kagura suddenly and loudly offered, hoping to change the subject. "We don't have a lot of time to spare. We gotta get those guns and bullets," she continued as she grabbed a large rolling luggage bag she had emptied the night before.

Osaka grabbed her bag, also emptied in preparation for ammo retrieval. "I'm ready," she said.

"Don't forget you're in charge of the radio," Kagura reminded Osaka.

"Okay," the spacey girl said with a nod as she donned a backpack jury-rigged to support a radio and antenna. "This is kinda heavy," she complained.

"Whatever," Tomo complained as she gathered her things and did her best to not even look at Kaorin who had also gotten ready to go.

"Remember you need to maintain radio silence unless something important happens," Chihiro reminded the group. "And don't make any unnecessary noise either. We still don't know which sounds they are attracted to or why."

"We only got two big bags," Osaka observed, "How're we gonna get all tha guns an' stuff back here?"

"We're going to have to make several trips," Kagura admitted, "This could take weeks."

"No way!" Osaka protested.

"Just make a couple of trips and then you can bring back the bus," Chihiro ordered. "Now hurry up and go."

"Easy for you to say," Kagura complained.

"Good luck," Chiyo quickly offered in an attempt to quell another potential argument.

"Thanks, Chiyo," Kagura said as the group started off.

--The streets of Tokyo a few hours later--

"So far so good," Kagura said in a low voice as she scanned for any signs that would indicate an insect. "How much farther is it to the truck?"

"It's another hour away still," Osaka lamented.

"Can we stop and eat lunch when we get there?" Tomo asked. "I'm starving."

"Sounds like a plan," Kagura replied with a smile. "It'll be good to take a break once we get there."

"Look," Kaorin finally spoke up as she pointed. The object she was pointing at was a simple child's wagon.

"So what?" Kagura asked, "Is there something special about it?"

"We can use it to carry back more ammunition," Tomo realized as she grabbed the toy and began hauling it behind her.

"That's a really good idea," Kagura marveled as the group continued on their way.

--Inside the police station--

"It's been a long time. Shouldn't they have radioed by now?" Chiyo asked a little worried.

"It's a good thing they haven't radioed yet," Chihiro pointed out. "They're only going to radio when they get there. If they radio before then that means they're in trouble."

"I guess so," Chiyo lamented. Chiyo then felt a small tug on her shirt. "Ah, do you need anything Sakaki?" Chiyo asked as nicely as possible.

"My medicine," Sakaki requested. The tall girl was in the clear as far as her injuries posing a mortal danger, but she was still in so much pain she needed help sitting up, and eating, and most everything else.

"Give me a hand," Chiyo requested as she retrieved the medicine and some water.

"Sure," Yomi offered as she hobbled over to Sakaki. "I'm going to…um…up you go," Yomi said as she placed her arms under Sakaki's shoulders and gently lifted the tall girl into a sitting position.

"Here," Chiyo offered as she placed the medicine in Sakaki's mouth before helping her drink some water. "Maybe you should try to stay sitting up, we're going to be having lunch soon."

"I want to lie down," Sakaki refused. Chiyo sent a pitiful glance to Yomi who compliantly did her best to set Sakaki down gently.

"I'm worried about her," Yomi whispered to Chiyo as the duo sat back down. "Isn't that her…um…" Yomi showed Chiyo three fingers, "dose today?"

"It doesn't say how much to take," Chiyo whispered back as she examined the bottle.

Yomi took the bottle and examined it. She turned it over and back and continued to stare intently at the object. "Is this written in Chinese?" she asked in a normal voice.

"It's Japanese," Chiyo pointed out as Yomi continued to stare at it.

Yomi lifted her glasses to look at it with unaided eyes and it still made no sense to her at all. "You're kidding, right?"

"It's really in Japanese," Chiyo asserted. Chiyo took the bottle back from Yomi and sure enough it was easily readable. "You-You really can't read this?" Chiyo asked with a little worry showing in her voice.

Yomi shook her head. "You're not…not…making fun of me, are you?" Yomi said as it dawned on her something was wrong.

Chiyo eagerly grabbed through some of their supplies looking for something else with writing on it. "Here," Chihiro offered as she tossed Chiyo a piece of chalk, "Tomo was playing with that."

"Thanks," Chiyo said as she took it. "Try and read this," Chiyo offered as she scribbled some letters onto the cement floor.

"This is in Japanese?" Yomi queried as she stared at the chalk letters.

"Most of them," Chiyo assured her.

Yomi could see the chalk written. Yomi could tell that there were letters there. But Yomi could not make heads or tails of any of them. "I-I can't read it," Yomi said, "Do something…something…easier."

"These…I…" Chiyo stammered. "It's just letters and numbers," the little genius informed Yomi, "There's nothing simpler I can do."

"Do it in English!" Yomi demanded.

"This one," Chiyo said pointing, "and this one are in English."

Yomi stared angrily at the chalk letters. "There's…it's…fix me!" Yomi ordered as she grabbed Chiyo by the collar, "Fix this!"

"I-I can't!" Chiyo protested, "You're hurting me."

"Put her down!" Chihiro demanded.

Yomi's demeanor suddenly changed as she gently set Chiyo down. "Please," Yomi begged, "Do something."

"I can't do anything," Chiyo told her.

"How did this…this…what…" Yomi stammered trying to find the right words.

"It's probably from when that bug hit you," Chihiro surmised, "Do you remember ever reading anything since that day?"

Yomi slowly shook her head. "But I'm getting better, right?" Yomi asked, "This will go away, right?"

"I…I don't know," Chiyo admitted, "I'm sorry." Yomi slumped down and curled up into a fetal position. "Y-Yomi," Chiyo started as she tried to find something to say.

"Leave her alone," Chihiro suggested.

"Yomi, are you okay?" Chiyo prodded. Yomi didn't respond.

"Just drop it," Chihiro ordered.

"Like you know what's best!" Chiyo suddenly snapped at her. "You did such a marvelous job of cheering Kaorin up!"

Chihiro retorted by throwing a full water bottle at Chiyo and scoring a direct hit in her face. "You may be a genius, but you don't know everything!" Chihiro yelled as Chiyo cradled her face in her hands. "If you're so smart why didn't you make Kaorin feel better?! Why didn't you ever try to make peace between her and Kagura?! Why didn't you come up with some plan to get us out of this shithole?! You haven't done anything at all!"

"Leave her alone," Sakaki ordered with as much strength as she could muster.

"I'm going to start lunch," Chiyo sedately announced as she finally withdrew her hands from her face revealing more than a little blood that came from her still-bleeding nose.

--At the abandoned truck--

As promised the first thing they did when they arrived was prepare for lunch. "Hey, can ya hear me?" Osaka spoke into the transmitter of her radio.

"Yeah," Chihiro's voice rang out from the radio.

"We made it ta the truck," Osaka announced, "an' Kaorin found a wagon so we can take more stuff back with us."

"You're all okay?" Chihiro's voice again sounded over the static.

"We're all fine," Osaka told her, "Tomo's makin' lunch an' we're gonna eat before we start back."

"Do hurry," Chihiro reminded them, "You have to make it back before dusk."

"Will do," Kagura said as she took the device from Osaka. "We're turning this off now. We'll see you when we get back." This time Kagura turned the radio off.

"We've made good time," Tomo announced as she continued to cook, "We should have plenty of time."

"Yeah," Kagura noted as she grabbed one of the bags and started loading it up. "You two help me," Kagura said to Kaorin and Osaka. "With any luck we can get this all loaded up before Tomo's done." Soon after starting Kagura realized that she wasn't receiving any help at all. "Come on guys," Kagura coaxed.

"I'm tired," Osaka complained.

Kaorin offered no signs that she'd heard Kagura at all as she sat against the truck in a daze. "What am I supposed to do with this?" Kagura complained as she went back to work by herself. She still managed to finish before Tomo got lunch ready. She packed both large bags, the wagon, and stuffed all their backpacks as full as she could with a few guns and a whole lot of bullets in fairly little time. "We should've brought more stuff to help us carry back more," Kagura lamented.

"It's already too heavy," Osaka pointed out.

"Food's done!" Tomo interrupted.

"About time!" Kagura exclaimed as she rushed to claim her plate.

After grabbing her food she also got Kaorin's share and brought it to her before sitting down next to her. "Are you okay?" Kagura prodded. Kaorin offered no answer as she slowly began to eat. Kagura let out a sigh before digging in herself.

After Kagura finished eating she looked to Kaorin who had stopped eating with more than half of her food left. "You really need to eat," Kagura told her.

"I don't want to," Kaorin mumbled.

"Carrying this stuff back ain't gonna be easy," Kagura told her, "You'll need the energy."

"Go back without me," Kaorin told her.

"You're coming with us!" Kagura insisted. "We need you to help carry back the stuff anyway." Kaorin made not move at all to respond. "Come on," Kagura coaxed, "I dunno what Chihiro said to you, but it can't be that bad, can it?"

"You don't know anything," Kaorin sedately informed her as she put her plate aside.

"I know you're worth more to us alive than dead," Kagura retorted. "We need you with us. We need your help."

"You're not even going to ask what happened between Chihiro and me?" Kaorin questioned as she finally raised her gaze to meet Kagura's.

"That's none of my business," Kagura admitted. "I would've rather had Osaka never bring up that guy I shot. It's something I'd rather have stayed private forever, so I guess I can sort of understand whatever it is you don't wanna talk about." Kagura let out a sigh as Kaorin once more stared at the ground. "Please eat?" Kagura coaxed again. Kaorin said nothing, but she began to slowly finish her meal.

After Kaorin finally finished her meal Kagura rallied all the girls and soon they were are their way back to the station. Tomo took the wagon while Kagura and Kaorin each were dragging along the large rolling luggage bags. "I've been thinking," Osaka announced. "If we do this again tomorrow won't it take us like six trips before we can bring tha bus back?"

"What do you mean?" Kagura asked.

"Well," Osaka started, "this is as much as we can carry." "So if we do this again we will have to carry today's stuff to tha bus, go back to tha station, get tomorrow's stuff an' take it to tha bus, go back to tha station an' then help the rest to tha bus."

"No way!" Tomo complained, "That's way too much work!"

"What else can we do?" Kagura asked rhetorically.

"Isn't this enough?" Tomo asked. "Let's just take this to the bus and it should be enough to get the bus to the station, right?"

"There are a lot of bullets here," Kagura observed. "But we'll still have to make another trip to bring the other girls to the bus so they can help us get it back."

"We can't bring Sakaki," Osaka pointed out. "She's hurt too much to come help."

"We can't leave her alone either," Kagura mused, "But that still leaves two of them that can help us, and we need all the help we can get."

"That's fine," Kaorin finally spoke up. "I'll need to do some repairs and try to armor any weak spots those bugs tore open. I'll do that while two of you go back to get whoever is going with us."

"Why can't they just take the scooter again?" Tomo questioned.

"The same reason we couldn't take it this time," Kaorin told her, "It might attract those big bugs."

--At the police station several hours later--

"We're back!" Kagura loudly announced as the group entered the jail carrying everything minus the wagon that wouldn't make it up the front steps.

"Welcome back," Chiyo meekly offered.

"Did something happen?" Kagura asked as tucked the rolling luggage into a corner. "You guys seem pretty upset."

"Nothing happened," Yomi assured, though her voice betrayed her.

"If you say so," Kagura dismissed.

"We have a plan for tomorrow," Tomo spoke up as she helped Kaorin put away her bag. "We're gonna go get the bus and we'll be well on our way!"

"We really should get more supplies," Chihiro asserted.

"We thought it over," Kagura spoke as she started to leave the cells again with Kaorin and Tomo to bring back the wagon's contents. "If we go out tomorrow for more stuff it'll end up taking two days longer to get the bus, or we can go tomorrow and get it," she informed them before she left.

"This is so stupid," Chihiro complained. "Two days is nothing in the long run. We need to make sure we have enough stuff to hold off a thousand of those beasts."

"It's too hard ta carry that much stuff," Osaka complained.

"I trust them," Chiyo defended. "If they think it's enough then it probably is. They're the only ones that have experienced it."

"You'd put your life in their hands?" Chihiro challenged.

"Without a second thought!" Chiyo proudly proclaimed.

"You guys should put dinner on!" Kagura shouted as she reentered the jail followed by Kaorin and Tomo lugging heavy boxes of ammo in.

"Sure," Chiyo said, this time with a genuine smile.

"One of you is gonna have to stay and take care of Sakaki while the rest of us go to get the bus back," Kagura announced as she piled the boxes away in a corner alongside Tomo and Kaorin. "So who wants to come shoot a bunch of ugly bugs?" Kagura asked with a smile.

"Chihiro wants to stay here," Chiyo told them. "She doesn't trust you guys."

"I never said that!" Chihiro retorted.

"I'll stay," Yomi offered in hopes of quelling the fight.

"You're sure about that?" Tomo asked as she flopped down, finally happy to be off her feet.

"Yeah," Yomi assured, "I want to stay."

"How was your trip?" Chiyo asked as she resumed assembling everything necessary to make dinner for the group.

"We didn't see a single bug," Kagura announced, aslo moving into a sitting position.

"Yeah," Tomo affirmed. "So it was really boring."

"No bugs at all?" Chiyo asked, "That's strange."

"Hey," Kagura spoke up, "maybe we'll get lucky and there'll be no bugs tomorrow either!"

"I really hope so," Chihiro said as she checked one of her firearms. "Otherwise tomorrow will be a living hell."

"The only ones going to hell will be any bug stupid enough to come after us!" Kagura boasted.

"Could you have done something to repel them?" Chiyo inquired.

There was a silence as the girls pondered the question. "I can't remember doing anything different," Kagura admitted. "Do you really think they can be repelled somehow?"

"I was hoping," Chiyo admitted. "So you're sure you didn't do anything out of the ordinary?"

"Yeah," Kagura told her, "The only thing different was that we didn't get attacked."

"How strange," Chiyo mumbled.

--After eating--

"So what's the plan after we get the bus here?" Kagura asked.

"We armor it, make it battle ready," Kaorin told her.

"And after that?" Kagura prodded.

"We get more guns, bullets, water," Kaorin explained. "After that we get Chiyo to Toudai."

"Think it's still standing?" Kagura asked.

"What do you mean?" Kaorin wondered.

"After the earthquake," Kagura pointed out, "a lot of buildings came down."

"It doesn't matter where we go," Kaorin mused, "Just someplace that'll let Chiyo work."

"And what happens after all of that?" Kagura continued to prod.

"Assuming we're still alive," Kaorin started, "Chiyo will work on a clean room and that vaccine."

"Well of course I know that," Kagura countered, "I mean what will we do about the bugs?"

"I don't know," Kaorin admitted.

"We really need to kill them all," Kagura pointed out, "I just don't know how we're gonna do that."

"It doesn't matter," Tomo finally spoke up. "We'll kill them one way or another and then Japan will be safe and we'll have saved the whole world!" the wildcat boasted.

"Sounds like a plan!" Kagura admired with a smile.

"No it doesn't!" Kaorin retorted, "That's not a plan at all!"

A/N: I added in that last bit just to help sum up what they are still aiming for. I figured it would be more entertaining than writing it in the author's notes. As for the arguement between Kaorin and Chihiro it was always planned, but by the same account I never intended to post it. What happened to Kaorin before she met Tomo will forever remain a mystery as will the cause of the arguement between Kaorin and Chihiro. Kaorin in the past has been very excitable when upset, but this time I've just kind of made her depressed. It seems really ooc for some reason. The next chapter will be better, as I don't really see how it could get worse.


	17. Wild Ride

A/N: I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but still I think this came out okay. Better than the previous anyways. For those of you that like action this one has the longest action scene yet. For those of you who like drama...better luck next time.

--Midmorning at the bus--

"I'm exhausted," Tomo complained as she flopped down onto one of the bus's seats.

"Come on," Kagura berated, "It's only been a couple of hours! And don't forget we have to go back and pick up Chiyo and Chihiro."

"Can't I just stay here?" Tomo whined.

Kagura looked to Osaka and back to Tomo before shaking her head. "Kaorin's gotta fix this thing, so you have to come back and help me bring those two back."

"Make Osaka do it," the wildcat insisted.

"Osaka can't," Kagura assured, "It's gotta be you."

Tomo let out a sigh as she gave up on the argument. "This really sucks," Tomo continued to complain as she reluctantly got up.

"You two be careful!" Kaorin shouted to the duo as they slowly made their way off the bus.

As Kagura and Tomo left the bus Osaka took off the backpack containing the radio and turned the device on. "Hey, can ya hear me?" Osaka asked as she spoke into the receiver.

"We can hear you," Chiyo's voice sounded over the radio, "Did you guys make it to the bus all right?"

"Yeah," Osaka assured the little genius. "Kagura an' Tomo just left ta go get you guys."

"Ah, okay!" Chiyo responded.

"Hey, Chiyo," Osaka requested, "Can ya do me a favor?"

"Um…sure," the little genius replied with a little uncertainty.

"I forgot ta check my camera," Osaka informed her. "Can ya go see if it works yet?"

"Okay," Chiyo said. After a couple minutes of waiting Chiyo's voice again emitted from the radio. "It seems to work fine now!" Chiyo happily informed Osaka.

"Really?!" Osaka asked getting a little excited. "You gotta bring it here with ya!"

"I will," Chiyo assured Osaka.

"Turn it off!" Kaorin suddenly warned. "We've got company!"

"Company?" Osaka asked obliviously. "Who is it?"

"A bug!" Kaorin warned.

Osaka nodded before going back to the radio. "I have ta turn this off now," Osaka informed Chiyo. "A bug is here." Before Chiyo could respond Osaka turned off the radio. "Where is it?" Osaka asked. Kaorin put a finger to her lips in an effort to shush the spacey girl. She then pointed out one of the windows indicating a giant bug just outside the bus. Kaorin kept her gun trained on the beast but made no sounds in hopes that it would just go away. "How are we gonna fix tha bus with her out there?" Osaka asked in a whisper.

"Be quiet," Kaorin whispered back. "With any luck it will get bored and go away." The girls had no such luck. The bug kept scurrying around the outside of the bus for several moments before it made it to the bus's door. Once there it became excited and began biting at the door.

"It's tryin' to get us!" Osaka warned Kaorin.

Finally hearing the girls the insect let out an alien screech before violently trying to force its way through the door. Left with no other choice Kaorin was forced to start shooting the creature and giving their position away to any other bug that could consider them a tasty meal. "Osaka!" Kaorin yelled over the noise, "You get a gun too!"

Osaka followed orders and made her way to the large bags filled with ammunition and guns. After opening it she found herself in a conundrum. There were several guns to choose from. "This one?" she mumbled as she picked it up only to put it down a moment later. "Maybe this one," Osaka mused as she picked up a different one. This time as she picked it up the firearm accidently went off. "This is tha one!" Osaka announced as she lifted the rifle into battle position with a devious smile.

"There are more of them!" Kaorin warned as a few more insects descended on the bus. "This is bad!" Kaorin wailed as she and Osaka did their best to keep the bugs out. Much like last time it appeared that the noise from the gunshots brought giant insects right to them and with only two guns this time the girl's weren't doing a very good job of keeping the monsters away from the bus.

"We're in trouble!" Osaka warned as a bug burst through the windscreen and clambered inside the bus. Both girls managed to slay the beast before it could pose a threat. Unfortunately, no sooner did that bug fall did another bug finally manage to tear a hole in the bus's side big enough to squeeze through. It climbed into the back of the bus and glanced around rapidly before taking notice of the girls. "Ah!" Osaka cried out as she noticed the beast as it was rushing toward the duo. "Look out!"

Thanks entirely to all the junk Kaorin had Kagura load into the bus, the giant beast got caught up on the miscellaneous metal and rubber before it made it halfway to the girls. As it stumbled about Kaorin and Osaka were able to slay it. "You watch the rear!" Kaorin shouted as she took aim at the windshield to keep both of the breaches covered.

"Let us in!" A voice sounded to Kaorin's left.

"Kagura! Tomo!" Kaorin recognized as she rushed to open the door. "Get in!" Kaorin shouted as she covered the two women after opening the door.

"We heard the gunshots," Kagura explained as she and Tomo rushed into the relative safety of the disintegrating bus.

"You should've stayed away!" Kaorin berated as she loaded a new clip into her rifle.

"And miss all the fun?!" Kagura joked as she joined Osaka guarding the rear while Tomo and Kaorin once again focused on the front of the bus.

The women managed to hold their ground for some time as they fought back to back, but slowly lost the upper hand as the insects tore more holes in the bus's thin shell. "Above!" Kaorin warned as a bug tore part of the ceiling apart and tried to drop down on the group of girls.

"This thing is falling apart!" Tomo yelled. "We've got to do something!"

The girls were interrupted by the sound of the bus's engine roaring to life. "It still works!" Kagura happily noted as she put the vehicle in gear and did her best to drive off. While the engine seemed unharmed, the wheels were not so lucky. The bus did move, but it was very slow and was nearly impossible to steer correctly. "Keep them off the bus!" Kagura yelled. "You don't gotta kill them! Just make sure they can't keep up!"

As Osaka picked up another few clips from one of the bags a different object caught her eye. "I found a grenade!" Osaka announced as she picked up the object.

Kaorin quickly snatched it from her. She eagerly pulled the pin and deployed the grenade out the nearest window in hopes of blowing off some of the several bugs still attached to the moving bus. Unexpectedly, the grenade went off not in a fiery explosion, but in a burst of a deafening blast and a flash of blinding light. "It was a flash-bang!" Kaorin pointed out the obvious as she recovered. While the grenade didn't kill or even really harm anything, it did manage to spook all of the bugs off of the bus.

"Try to find more of those!" Tomo ordered as she noticed all the bugs had scattered. Tomo quickly dug through a box while Kaorin and Osaka each looked through a bag.

"There are some here!" Kaorin announced as she gathered a few.

"I found another one," Osaka noted as she picked it up.

"There aren't any here," Tomo lamented. "How many do we have?!"

"Three!" Kaorin announced how many she had recovered.

"I only got one," Osaka informed Tomo.

"We need to conserve these," Kaorin noted as she took Osaka's flash-bang and attached it, along with her others, to her gear.

"Here they come again!" Tomo warned as she rushed towards the back of the bus.

"We need to keep them off of the bus," Kaorin informed Osaka as they also ran to the back in hopes of dropping any bugs before they reached the bus.

Thanks to the flash-bang the streets appeared to be bug free, but it didn't last long. Kagura wasn't able to drive more than two blocks before the bugs started showing up and dashing after the bus again. Thanks to all the girls being ready the bugs that threatened to run after and overtake the bus were quickly cut down. However there was an unseen flaw in their plan as an unnoticed bug latched onto the bus as it drove by.

"Let's keep it up!" Kagura shouted. "We'll get this thing back there ourselves!"

"Maybe ya should throw another flash-bang?" Osaka suggested as the girls shot down a bug causing it to fall and tripping up a second pursuing insect.

"Not unless we really need it," Kaorin assured.

"Look out!" Kagura suddenly warned as the giant insect dropped down through the roof and into the middle of the bus.

"What is it?" Tomo asked as she glanced back to see the insect land. "One's inside!" Tomo warned as she opened fire on the beast. Kaorin and Osaka spun around and the trio quickly stopped the insect. Its corpse joined its comrade the girls had slain earlier and the two bodies made a nearly complete wall in the middle of the bus.

"Flash-bang!" Kaorin warned as she activated the grenade and threw it out the rear to dislodge the insects that had latched on while the girls were distracted.

"Tomo!" Kagura yelled from the front. "Tomo, come here for a minute!"

Kaorin gave Tomo a nod indicating for her to go while she and Osaka continued to fight off the horde. "Coming!" Tomo announced. As she turned she realized that it would be no easy task getting past the wall of flesh. Complicating matters was the fact that either bug could have a spark of life left in it and it would be easy even for a wounded giant to tear her in half. "This might take a minute!" Tomo informed Kagura.

"Try to keep them away!" Kagura shouted. "I gotta stop the bus!"

"Do you still need me?!" Tomo yelled back.

"Just keep them off of the bus!" Kagura ordered as the bus quickly started to lose speed.

"Why are you stopping?!" Kaorin demanded.

"I have to!" Kagura replied.

"Tomo go get her!" Kaorin barked as the insects descended on the now stalled bus, "She's by herself up there!" After Tomo left once more to try and get past the insect corpses Kaorin readied another flash-bang.

Now that the bus had stopped Tomo suddenly had a new, much easier route to Kagura. "Throw a flash-bang!" the wildcat ordered as she pointed to the gaping hole in the rear of the bus. Kaorin gave a nod as she tossed the device and, like the other two girls, covered her ears and shut her eyes. As soon as Tomo recovered from the concussive blast she leapt through the breach and quickly ran around to the front of the bus. Thankfully the door was still wide-open as she boarded. The sight before Tomo, however, was not at all good. Kagura knelt on the floor with her medical supplies strewn out around her. Her left hand was grasping her right shoulder which was bleeding profusely.

"Help me," Kagura begged in a strained voice.

"What happened?" Tomo demanded as she quickly moved to help Kagura.

"One of you shot me," Kagura explained as Tomo helped her get her shirt off so they could treat the wound.

"Hold this here," Tomo ordered as she held a bundle of gauze on the exit wound. With Kagura holding that in place Tomo placed another bundle on the back of Kagura's shoulder before securing it with copious amounts of medical tape. "Are you going to be okay?" Tomo nervously asked now that they had patched up the wound.

"It doesn't hurt much," Kagura said as she struggled to her feet.

"They're returning!" Kaorin suddenly warned, bringing the duo back to the reality of the situation.

"Throw another flash-bang!" Tomo barked.

"No way!" Kaorin refused. "We can't keep wasting them!" she argued as the gunfire resumed.

"Its fine," Kagura grunted as she dragged herself to the driver's seat.

"Ka-Kagura," Tomo stammered as Kagura put the bus in gear and started off once again.

"Keep 'em off the bus," Kagura mumbled as she clutched at her injured shoulder.

At the back of the bus Osaka and Kaorin were doing a good job at keeping the pursuing insects away, but with only two guns the giants started making ground on the moving bus. Unfortunately a time finally came when both girls had to reload and several bugs jumped onto the bus. "Damn it all!" Kaorin shouted as she abandoned her rifle and grabbed another flash-bang. "Flash-bang!" she shouted after cooking off the grenade and tossing it. As always the unmistakable burst of light and sound severely affected the insects as they all became very disoriented and scattered. "How far away is the station!?" Kaorin demanded as her hearing returned, "I'm down to our last flash-bang!"

"It's not far!" Tomo assured. "How are you holding up?" Tomo asked Kagura in a much tamer tone.

"It's starting to hurt," Kagura complained as she continued to clutch at her shoulder.

"Hang in there," Tomo reassured as she caught eye of the radio Osaka left. She rushed to the device, pried it out from under one of the corpse's legs, and turned it on. "Guys! Can you hear me?!" she shouted into the radio.

"I can hear you!" Kaorin responded shortly before Chiyo did.

"Tomo?!" Chiyo's voice crackled over the device. "Are you all okay?! Osaka said there was a bug!" Chiyo frantically demanded, "And I heard gunfire just now!"

"We're almost to the station!" Tomo informed Chiyo. "We're in a pinch and Kagura's hurt!" Tomo ordered, "Get ready for us!"

"What's wrong with Kagura?!" Kaorin demanded.

"Is Kagura okay?!" Osaka also questioned as she abandoned defending the bus in place of fretting over her friend.

"I'm fine!" Kagura managed to yell back.

"Osaka focus!" Kaorin scolded, "She said she fine! Shoot the bugs!"

"She's lying," Osaka said bluntly as she started heading to the front of the bus.

"You can't do anything for her!" Kaorin yelled. "Tomo is there for her, you need to help me keep these things from getting to the bus!"

Osaka looked back and tried to see past the corpses, but to no avail. "O-Okay," Osaka relented as she rejoined Kaorin in shooting approaching insects, although she kept looking back in Kagura's direction.

"We're approaching now!" Tomo informed the group at the station as they rounded the last corner.

Kagura brought the bus to a stop in front of the station without incident. However, Kagura herself collapsed out of the seat just after turning off the bus. "Kagura!" Tomo fretted as she rushed to Kagura's side. "Kagura, are you okay?" Tomo demanded as she gently shook her.

"I'm fine," Kagura tried to assure, but was unable to prove it as she failed miserably to climb to her feet.

"Flash-bang!" Kaorin warned as she threw her last grenade. After the flash-bang cleared the way Kaorin and Osaka quickly made their way off the bus and rushed to the front. "We have to get into the cells quickly!" Kaorin insisted.

"Help me get her up," Tomo ordered as she struggled to help Kagura up. Kaorin ran back onto the bus and with Tomo's help the duo quickly got Kagura off.

"They're comin' back," Osaka observed as she began firing at some of the scattered bugs.

"Hurry up!" a familiar voice called out. The group looked up to see Chiyo and Chihiro waiting for them at the entrance to the police station. Both girls were armed and each had one of Chihiro's crutches.

As Tomo and Kaorin dragged Kagura to the station the other three girls made sure to keep the bugs at bay. Thanks to the assistance of the other girls they were able to make it to the threshold without incident. "Okay," Chihiro ordered, "Get her to a cell and we'll cover you."

"Thanks," Tomo offered as she and Kaorin continued to rush towards the cells as quickly as they could.

"Osaka!" Chihiro yelled at the girl as she started to follow after Kagura. "We need you to help us!" Chihiro scolded as she and Chiyo continued to keep the bugs away.

"But Kagura-" Osaka started to protest.

"But nothing!" Chihiro barked, "Help us!"

Osaka reluctantly went back to the doors to help shoot the remaining bugs. Thankfully now that they were at the station it appeared as the bug's ranks did not seem to replenish nearly as quickly, if at all. After a few minutes of fighting the girls managed to kill every bug.

--Inside the cells--

"Bring her next to Sakaki!" Kaorin ordered as Yomi opened the cell for the trio.

"What happened to her?!" Yomi demanded.

"I got shot," Kagura choked out as Tomo and Kaorin laid her down on the floor by Sakaki's bed.

"You shot her?!" Yomi yelled at the duo assisting her.

"What do we do?" Tomo asked Sakaki, completely ignoring Yomi.

"Stop the bleeding," Sakaki said simply, not even bothering to look at Kagura.

"I did that already!" Tomo retorted, "I mean I patched it up. I don't know if the bleeding stopped or not."

"We don't have access to any real medical equipment," Sakaki pointed out. "There isn't anything else we can do."

"There has to be something!" Tomo begged.

"There isn't," Sakaki callously replied.

"Just make sure you keep pressure on the…the um…her shoulder," Yomi offered as she motioned to her own shoulder to indicate the wound. "You wrapped those bandages up tightly, right?"

"Painfully so," Kagura pointed out herself as her vision began to swim. Tomo followed Yomi's instruction and put her hand on Kagura's wound and pressed down despite Kagura's vehement protests.

"How did this happen?" Yomi demanded, "Who shot her?"

"I don't know," Kaorin claimed, "I didn't even know she'd been shot until we got here." "Do you know what happened?" Kaorin asked Tomo.

"You or Osaka shot her when that bug came down between us," Tomo explained.

"How are you so sure you didn't shoot her?!" Kaorin suddenly demanded.

"She'd be dead already if I shot her," Tomo pointed out. Keeping one hand on Kagura's shoulder she used the other to retrieve one of her shotgun's slugs. "See?"

"Who-How can we find out who did it?" Kaorin sincerely asked.

"It doesn't really matter," Tomo replied. "All that matters is that Kagura gets better."

"But-But if she…I can't be responsible!" Kaorin shouted as she shook her head. "I can't!"

"Kagura!" a voice desperately shouted, "Kagura!" Osaka dashed into view at a rate much faster than any of the girls thought she could move. "Is Kagura okay?!" Osaka demanded as she rushed into the cell.

"She's not dead," Tomo stated bluntly.

Kaorin quickly took notice that Osaka still held the deadly rifle. "I'll take that," Kaorin mumbled as she took the rifle away from Osaka.

"Kagura, are ya okay?!" Osaka desperately asked.

Kagura looked over to see a very worried looking Osaka. "I'm kinda cold," Kagura weakly complained, "and it hurts like hell."

"Get her a blanket!" Osaka ordered.

"Here," Yomi offered as she grabbed a blanket and draped it over Kagura.

"Kagura, hang in there," Osaka sincerely assured.

"Is everything okay?" Chihiro asked as she came into view alongside Chiyo.

Chiyo wasn't nearly as calm as Chihiro. "What happened to Kagura?" Chiyo wailed. "There was lots of blood!"

Tomo looked up at them from her position next to Kagura and shook her head. "Kagura got shot," Tomo explained.

"How?" Chihiro demanded as she sent a glare in Kaorin's direction.

"Just because she got shot it's _my_ fault?!" Kaorin angrily yelled at her so-called best friend.

"It was an accident," Tomo explained. "We don't know who shot her, but it was either Osaka or Kaorin."

"I would never shoot Kagura!" Osaka protested before pointing at Kaorin. "Kaorin would shoot her, she hates Kagura!"

"I didn't shoot her!" Kaorin argued.

"Like I said!" Tomo butted in, "It was an _accident_!" "It wasn't anyone's fault," Tomo reminded them.

Chiyo finally made her way into the cell and took over Tomo's task of keeping pressure on Kagura's wound. "Is Kagura going to be all right?" Chiyo asked.

"It hurts," Kagura complained. "I need some of Sakaki's medicine."

"Ah!" Chiyo shouted. "Maybe there is some medicine in here that can help," Chiyo optimistically surmised.

"What does she need?" Tomo asked as she sifted through Sakaki's bag.

"Pain medicine!" Kagura requested.

Tomo retrieved the bottle and dumped a few into her hand. "How many do I give her?" Tomo wondered aloud.

"Sakaki usually takes two at a time," Chiyo informed her.

After dumping the remainder back into the container and replacing it into Sakaki's pack Tomo retrieved a bottle of water. "Here," Tomo said simply as she held out the items for Kagura.

Kagura struggled to a sitting position with Chiyo still trying to keep pressure on the wound. "Thanks," she choked out as she took the pills and put them into her mouth before reaching for the water, but as she reached out for it her strength waned and Chiyo was barely able to catch her from collapsing back down to the ground. After the spell passed Kagura took the water and eagerly downed the entire bottle before slumping back down to the ground with a little help from Chiyo.

"Is she really okay?" Tomo wondered aloud.

"Of course…" Yomi started to say that she clearly wasn't doing well, but considering how many of her friends needed to hear the opposite…"she'll be fine."

A/N: Nothing went as planned...again. Chiyo and Chihiro were supposed to make it to the bus and help get it back and Kagura definately wasn't supposed to get shot. In spite of the unplanned events I did make sure they got the bus back and this time it still runs. Since this chapter involved minimal drama Kaorin is finally seen as not crazy, yay! Although Sakaki's few lines are pretty callous, but she deserves to be in a bad mood, after all she got hit by a bus...and a lot of rocks. Without the big blocky paragraphs it occurs to me that there is perhaps too much dialogue, although I have no clue what I should do to remedy it. Just seems to look unappealing with so many single lines and most of them starting with ". But I suppose that it is better than the huge paragraphs of yesterday.


	18. Compounding Troubles

A/N: After smashing my writers block with a comedically huge mallet, I've finally finished this chapter. As promised its focus is on drama again. This time instead of Kagura and Kaorin, the drama queens have passed the baton on so they can take a break.

--A couple of weeks after securing the bus--

Chihiro stood alone on the roof of the police station as she gazed out across the streets. "How boring," Chihiro lamented with a sigh. She elected herself to be the lookout for the girls while they worked on the bus in front of the station, but she didn't expect things to go so smoothly. In two weeks they'd only seen five giant bugs and, for the most part, they were all quickly dispatched. "I guess I should be thankful," Chihiro thought as she paced back and forth as she diligently watched over her friends.

Indeed things were looking much better now that the group had the bus. They had finished patching up the tattered hull and were now in the process of properly armoring it with scrap metal retrieved from collapsed buildings, abandoned cars, and anything they could tear apart and throw on the bus. Currently everyone minus Chihiro, Yomi, and Sakaki were busy with the bus. Even Kagura who still could not properly use her right arm was doing her best to help out. Sakaki, unfortunately, was still in no condition to be up and about so Yomi had volunteered to watch after her even though her leg was more or less healed as well. The only one that didn't appear to be on the road to recovery was poor Chiyo. Despite two weeks having passed her calf still pained her and still didn't appear to be healing any more than it already had.

Finally relenting from her task as lookout, Chihiro casually strolled up to a radio that the girls had installed on the rooftop and picked up the receiver. "How's it going down there?" Chihiro queried as she leaned over and gazed down upon her comrades. Her voice echoed in two different locations as Osaka's radio and the radio in the cell with Yomi and Sakaki both mimicked her words.

Osaka, who had been helping Kagura hold a decent sized sheet of metal in place while Tomo welded it to the bus, completely abandoned her task to respond. By releasing the metal it caused Kagura to be unable to keep it in place and it slid off of the side of the bus and nearly hit a now furious Tomo. "We're doin' fine," Osaka obliviously responded into the receiver of her radio.

Chihiro couldn't help but to laugh at the humorous scene beneath her, an action that only further agitated both Kagura and Tomo. "What the hell?!" Tomo dumbly yelled at the radio instead of the woman on the roof, "You knew she'd do that!"

"Don't laugh!" Kagura also berated at the radio instead of the woman, "That was really dangerous!" Seeing the duo yell at the radio only caused Chihiro laugh harder at them. Osaka on the other hand was suddenly worried that for some reason Tomo and Kagura were mad at her.

"I'm not laughing!" Osaka protested.

"We're not mad at you!" Tomo and Kagura yelled at the same time.

"We're mad at Chihiro!" Kagura explained.

Osaka blinked. After a moment she blinked again. "If you're mad at her then why are ya hollerin' at me?" Osaka demanded. The space cadet pointed to the still laughing figure on the roof. "Chihiro's over there," Osaka informed them.

Both Tomo and Kagura's expression turned into a stupid gaze as they realized their idiotic mistake. Tomo recovered much faster than Kagura as she spun around and pointed at Chihiro. "Stop laughing!" Tomo demanded, "It's your fault!" Tomo's finger suddenly went limp as her hand went uselessly to her hip as she realized her gun wasn't there. "Chihiro look out!" Tomo warned as a very large silhouette loomed over Chihiro.

Despite being distracted by her own laughter, Chihiro quickly realized something was wrong. She turned to see a giant bug with one of its claws drawn back about to swipe at her. Reflexively jumping backwards, Chihiro managed to clear the blow as the insect's leg passed underneath her as she performed a handspring and landed on the ledge of the roof. She had to spend a second regaining her balance as she nearly teetered over the edge as she realized she was backed into a corner. The insect let out a screech as it charged forward to bite Chihiro. Having no other option, Chihiro deftly took a step backwards and avoided the insect's jaws by dropping off of the roof. As she dropped, Chihiro reached out with her right hand to grab onto the edge of the roof while her left quickly drew one of her automatic pistols. As the bug peered over the edge it came face to face with Chihiro's gun. Chihiro unloaded her entire clip into the beast and, thankfully, it caused the giant insect to stagger as it withdrew from Chihiro's sight.

As Chihiro struggled to get back onto the roof the girls on the ground were panicking as to how to help their ailing friend. "Hang on!" Kagura cheered as Tomo dashed into the bus to retrieve her weapons. Only after Tomo disappeared did Kagura remember that she still had her pistols on her. However with Tomo gone they would serve no use. With only her left hand to use Kagura wasn't confident that she could put fire on the bug without harming Chihiro. Giving it to Osaka was also a fairly bad choice. "I can't do anything," Kagura begrudgingly admitted.

"What's going on?!" Yomi's voice screeched over the radio, "We heard gunfire!"

Osaka picked up the receiver again. "There's a bug on tha roof," she informed the duo in the cell.

"No there's not!" Chihiro yelled as she climbed back onto the roof. "Be on guard! It's disappeared!" she warned as she quickly glanced around for signs of the beast before grabbing her rifle. "You guys be careful! It could be anywhere!" Chihiro yelled as she took off to scour the rooftop for clues to the whereabouts of the wounded creature.

"Ah, never mind," Osaka spoke to the group in the cell through the radio, "There isn't anything there after all."

"Where's Chihiro?!" Tomo anxiously asked as she departed the bus with Chiyo and Kaorin following after. All three girls were armed. "Did something happen?" Tomo continued to ask.

"Chihiro's back up on the roof, but the bug's gone," Kagura explained.

The girls were interrupted by the sound of gunfire coming from the roof. A few seconds after it stopped the women could barely make out a yell from Chihiro. "Look out! It's coming your way!" Chihiro's voice sounded from somewhere on the roof. As if on cue the insect burst into view and made a beeline for the group of women. Unfortunately for the giant insect the women were armed and fully prepared. Resembling something of a firing squad Kagura, Kaorin, Chiyo, and Tomo all fired simultaneously into the insect causing it to stumble before collapsing a few meters from the group.

"Hmph," Tomo scoffed, "that bug wasn't so tough." No sooner did those words leave Tomo's big mouth did the insect suddenly spark to life and thrash about enticing the girls to once more send a volley of lead into the beast. "Okay, he could take a hit," Tomo admitted as she reloaded her weapon.

"What's going on?!" Yomi demanded through the radio, "Do you need help?"

Chihiro beat Osaka to the radio. "It looks like we're all okay," Chihiro informed Yomi and Sakaki as she inspected the group of girls from her perch. "A big bug snuck up on me, but we managed to kill it."

"Just the one?" Yomi continued to prod.

"Yeah," Tomo answered her this time through Osaka's radio. "I killed it so you don't need to worry," she boasted.

A silence ensued as the group waited for more from Yomi, but after a moment it was apparent that she had nothing more to say. "Don't just stand around!" Chihiro broke the silence, "Get that damned bus ready!" The women all complied as Chiyo and Kaorin disappeared into the bus once more and the rest continued their task of armoring the outside of the bus. "This time I won't let my guard down," Chihiro reassured herself as she resumed her task as lookout.

--Inside the bus--

Towards the back of the bus, Chiyo and Kaorin were busy welding a giant cage to the walls inside the bus for extra protection from the insects. Already the girls had removed most of the bus's seats and used the metal from those to armor the outside of the bus. For the cage on the inside the girls used sturdier lengths of metal as a final line of defense that would almost certainly hold up in even the direst of situations. Most of the outside of the bus was done and the cage was near complete as well. All that remained on the to do list was to cut out sealable ports for the women to shoot pursuing insects from and to find a suitable armor for the windscreen. Chihiro and Kaorin had already decided to cut out one port on each side, one on the roof, and two in the back to be able to keep bugs off of the bus and to rid any bug that does latch on.

"How much longer do you think this will take?" Chiyo asked Kaorin.

"The cage?" Kaorin surmised, "Shouldn't be too long even with just us two." Kaorin stopped her work and looked around the inside of the bus seeing how far they've come and how far they've to go. "Should be done sometime tomorrow if not sooner," she confidently predicted.

"After that we can go to Toudai?" Chiyo hopefully asked.

"No way," Kaorin dismissed as she returned to her work. "It'll take another day after we finish here to get everything ready and we still have to load all our stuff onboard," she explained. "We also wanted to get a bulldozer to get around more easily, but that can wait unless the way to Toudai is completely blocked."

"I want to get there quickly," Chiyo admitted. "We need time to make sure we can make a sterile environment for Tomo's baby and the sooner we can get started on investigating the virus the better."

"What will we do if Toudai collapsed in the quake?" Kaorin seriously proded. "Do you have a backup plan?"

"We'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it," Chiyo explained. "Surely there are other colleges nearby, or maybe we can find a good hospital or something like that as a last ditch resort." Chiyo let out a sigh. "I really hope its okay though," she admitted, "It'd make everything a lot simpler."

"Yeah," Kaorin agreed, "but our luck is never that good, is it?"

"Don't jinx it!" Chiyo wailed.

--Inside a familiar jail cell--

Despite the bit of excitement the duo had received earlier when the bug attacked, the two girls sat together in bored silence. While Sakaki lay in the cot and absentmindedly manipulated her necklace with her left hand Yomi sat against a wall near the bed and was toying with a pistol. "Yomi," Sakaki finally spoke up, "Hand me my pills."

"They're in the bag right next to you," Yomi coolly informed her.

"I can't open them myself," Sakaki reminded Yomi as she painfully held up her right arm.

"Right," Yomi said apologetically as she climbed to her feet, "Sorry." Yomi took a couple of steps before kneeling down and picking through Sakaki's bag. She identified the largest bottle as the one containing the pain pills. As she picked up the bottle she, once again, tried to read the label. She squinted and twisted the bottle, but no matter what she did Yomi was unable to recognize a single letter. Yomi irately opened the bottle, dumped out a few pills into her hand, separated out two doses, and thrust her hand in Sakaki's direction. "Here," Yomi bitterly offered before replacing the bottle into the bag and took two pills herself.

"Is something bothering you?" Sakaki inquired as soon as she took her medicine.

Yomi let out a sigh as she once more sat against the wall and began to toy with the pistol. "Sakaki," Yomi said seriously, "You cried a lot when Mayaa died, remember?"

"Y-Yeah," Sakaki mumbled as her left hand grasped at her necklace.

"Would you cry that much for me?" Yomi prodded as she placed the muzzle of the pistol under her chin.

"Yes!" Sakaki assured as she scrambled to sit up in spite of the pain the sudden motions sent rocketing through her body. "I would cry more! Much more!" Sakaki proclaimed.

Yomi allowed a small, sad smile to form on her lips. "Don't worry," Yomi informed Sakaki as she withdrew the gun, "I want to do it, but I can't right now. I can't until we get Tomo somewhere safe."

"Why?!" Sakaki demanded. "Things are finally going well! We will be safe soon and everything will be better!"

"After we get to Toudai I won't be of any more use. I can't read or write. I'll never be able to really achieve anything ever again," Yomi explained. "I want Tomo to be safe. After that I can finally rest." She emphasized her words by putting the gun under her chin again. "Bang," Yomi said with a cynical chuckle, "I can't wait."

"Don't talk like that!" Sakaki desperately begged as tears threatened to fall.

"I'm going to tell Tomo too," Yomi seriously informed Sakaki as she withdrew the pistol and put it away. "That way you two can go ahead and make your peace."

"Don't…" Sakaki begged, "We'll still need you! Tomo will still need you!"

"I want you to keep this a secret, okay?" Yomi asked, seemingly oblivious to Sakaki's distress. "There's no need to make everyone else fret too."

"Yomi…" Sakaki tried once more to plead with the seemingly suicidal woman.

"It's almost time for lunch isn't it?" Yomi observed as she completely changed the subject. "I'll get lunch started. You just rest, okay?" Yomi asked with a face that didn't betray her emotions in the least.

Drying the few tears Sakaki had let slip she shook her head. "I won't let you," Sakaki said dangerously.

"We need to make lunch," Yomi pointed out, feigning to misinterpret Sakaki's words. "Did you want to make it?"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Sakaki uncharacteristically shouted at Yomi.

"You would rather make me suffer than allow me peace for your own sake?" Yomi asked rhetorically as she moved to the radio.

"Tomo's sake too!" Sakaki pointed out, "Everyone's sake!"

Ignoring Sakaki's protests Yomi grabbed the receiver. "I'm going to start lunch, so you guys need to wrap up soon, okay?" she unwaveringly spoke into the device.

"All right," Osaka responded as a loud clang could be heard.

"Make sure Kaorin and Chiyo know too," Chihiro reminded Osaka as she let out a little chuckle.

"'Kay," Osaka said. After a minute of silence Osaka spoke up again, "They'll be ready in a minute."

"I'll get started right away," Yomi informed everyone before putting the receiver down and Osaka and Chihiro acknowledged her statement.

Sakaki relented on convincing Yomi for now and chose instead to lie back down on the cot. As Yomi prepared to make the food, Sakaki desperately tried to think of something to change Yomi's mind.

--After lunch--

Yomi and Kagura switched places since Kagura wasn't very helpful with only her injured left arm to work with and Yomi had told Sakaki what she needed to say. Osaka was helping Chiyo inside the bus while Yomi was helping Kaorin sure up the armor on the outside of the bus.

"They complete ignored the roof didn't they?" Yomi asked rhetorically as she and Kaorin climbed up on to the nearly unarmored roof.

"Getting metal up here is a lot of work, so of course they didn't bother with it," Kaorin replied in a deadpan tone.

"Speaking of avoiding work," Yomi started with a little annoyance, "Where is Tomo?"

"Over there," Kaorin dismissed as she pointed to the infamous wildcat as she casually sat against what was left of an abandoned car and threw pebbles aimlessly.

"That lazy idiot," Yomi berated. "I'll go get her to come help us."

"Leave her alone," Kaorin asserted.

"You don't know Tomo, if you just let her-"

"_You_ don't know!" Kaorin snapped. Kaorin cast her gaze towards Tomo before continuing. "Over there is where she burned Taro's body," she explained. "Go talk to her or be there for her, but do _not_ go over there and yell at her." Once again focusing on the task at hand Kaorin turned away from Tomo. "Or you could just leave her alone and help me here, whichever you prefer," Kaorin offered.

Not surprisingly, Yomi crawled down off of the bus and began to make her way to Tomo. "She's just ditching work," Yomi rationalized as she approached Tomo. However she lost her nerve and instead of berating her friend, Yomi silently sat down next to her.

Lost in her own daze Tomo failed to recognize that someone had sat down next to her. As she continued to toss pebbles it took her a minute to realize that there were more pebbles being thrown than hers alone. Tomo stopped throwing and looked to find Yomi sitting right next to her. The wildcat nearly jumped out of her skin. "Wha-When did you get here?" Tomo demanded as she tried to control her rapidly beating heart.

"I was enjoying the silence," Yomi joked. "Are you sick?"

Tomo's face fell as she slowly shook her head. "I don't think being heartbroken counts, huh?"

"We've all lost loved ones," Yomi offered as she put a hand on Tomo's shoulder.

Tomo shrugged it off. "You don't know how I feel," Tomo spat out bitterly. "None of you do."

Looking for the right words, the first thing that came to mind was, perhaps, an even more distraught woman. "Kaorin might," Yomi suggested as she cast her gaze towards the woman working alone on top of the bus, "We still don't know what's haunting her." A moment of silence fell over the duo as Tomo returned to tossing rocks aimlessly. Yomi had no clue what she should say to the melancholic wildcat. "Do you want to be left alone too?" she mumbled as she started to get up.

Yomi was held back as Tomo took hold of her sleeve to keep her there. "Stay," Tomo said simply as she continued to stare forward.

Yomi let out a sigh as she sat back down. She still had no clue what to say to Tomo. Letting out another sigh, Yomi leaned back and closed her eyes. "One, two, three…" Yomi's mind wavered from her task of talking to Tomo and instead set itself on counting the sounds of pebbles as they landed. They fell in a fairly even rhythm that was somehow calming. After counting to thirty-four the rhythm came to an abrupt end. Curious to the sudden silence Yomi leaned her head in Tomo's direction and opened an eye to see her friend standing a few paces back with a familiar look of mischief on her face.

"Good morning," Tomo mocked as she flicked pebbles from an outstretched hand in Yomi's direction.

A familiar vein appeared on Yomi's head. "What the hell?!" Yomi demanded as she shot up and began to storm towards Tomo as she continued to be pelted by the pebbles. "Tomo!" Yomi yelled dangerously as she got within arm's reach of the irritating woman.

"You can't hit me this time," Tomo continued to mock as she stuck out her tongue at Yomi, "I'm pregnant!" Her plan, as usual, wasn't well thought out as Yomi grabbed Tomo's face and did her best to contort it out of shape.

"You idiot!" Yomi berated as she continued to punish the foolish girl. "Of all times to do something stupid! Can't you be serious even for a minute?!"

The duo's familiar antics were cut short by the sound of gunshots. The duo's heads snapped up along with Kaorin's as they all looked to Chihiro as she had her rifle aimed down the street. "It ran away!" she shouted. It was a familiar situation that the girls had experienced before. Unfortunately chasing after it was a dangerous affair and in no way worth the risk. They would have to simply stay alert in case it returned.

"I hope it doesn't come back," Tomo mumbled as she continued to gaze at Chihiro as she gave an 'all clear' signal to them before moving to the radio.

"Well," Yomi started as she cautiously glanced around, "If you're feeling better there is a lot of work still to be done."

"We can't go back to work with that thing around," Tomo coaxed as she also looked around to make certain the creature didn't get the drop on them.

"Now I _know_ you're just trying to dodge working!" Yomi scolded.

"You're wrong!" Tomo cried out as her voice cracked, an action of sincerity that took Yomi aback. "I can't let anything like that happen to me!" she told Yomi. "You, Chiyo, Sakaki, Kagura…" Tomo mumbled. "If what happened to any of you happened to me…" Tomo said as she moved both her hands to her abdomen.

"We won't let that happen!" Yomi assured. "We're all here," she said, "We'll protect you."

"You're lying," Tomo said as she lowered herself to the ground. "If any of you could have stopped any of that you would have," Tomo said as she pointed out the obvious. "This is all out of our hands. We're at fate's mercy and we can't do anything about it!"

"Like hell we can't!" Yomi retorted. "Fate might've put us here, but we still have the will to fight! Even if it means we have to fight fate itself!" she yelled at Tomo. Only after her little speech did she listen to herself though. "The will to fight," her own words echoed through her head. She shook her head to clear the fog. "Come on, we have to fight," Yomi said as she outstretched her hand to Tomo. "It's fight or die; we don't have any other option."

Tomo offered a smile as she took Yomi's hand and allowed her friend to help her up. "I choose to fight," Tomo proclaimed. "How about you?" she asked with a familiar smile.

Yomi froze. "I'm not as strong as you," Yomi admitted with an unreadable face as she turned her back to Tomo and started making for the bus.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Tomo demanded as she bolted after Yomi. Yomi made no move to respond as she continued unwaveringly toward the bus. The wildcat quickly closed the distance and forced Yomi to turn around and face her. "What did you mean by that?"

Yomi shook her head. "I promise, I'll get you to safety," the bespectacled woman assured with a haunting smile before wrenching herself free of Tomo's grasp and once more heading to the bus.

"Could it be that she is in worse shape than me?" Tomo wondered as she watched Yomi's retreating figure. "I have to do something," she mentally noted. "But what?"

A/N: Is it just me, or is a depressed Tomo very, very wrong? That's what held up most of this production. I just have a hard time writing her so ooc, but I also felt the need to express Tomo's fretting over being pregnant as well as her sorrow over losing her lover because both of these issues have been more or less skipped over in previoius chapters. Yomi on the other hand has been distressed for some time now and it's finally started to really affect her. Next chapter will finally have the girls fully prepared to get to Toudai and hopefully the one after that will include their arrival. But my luck is never that good, is it?


	19. Divide and Conquered

A/N: Yay! So many reviews and even praise from Sensei! I'd hate to stall the story with a long opening author's notes so I shall respond to the questions asked after the ending notes.

--A couple of days later--

The bus finally complete and most of the girls' weapons piled on, it was decided that Chiyo, Osaka, and Chihiro would board the bus with the intent to recover the weapons left on the truck and, if possible, go back to the warehouse and completely load the bus with useful supplies. While they recovered supplies it fell to Yomi, Kaorin, and Tomo to go and try to secure a bulldozer from a nearby construction site.

"Why do I have to walk?" Tomo complained as she trailed slightly behind the other two women.

"You'd rather go and have to haul a bunch of heavy boxes with the others?" Yomi taunted with a smug smile as Tomo simply let out a huff and continued marching. "So," Yomi said as she turned to Kaorin, "Why exactly are we doing this?"

"We'll need it sooner or later," Kaorin mused as she constantly looked about for even the slightest hint of a bug.

The brunette let out a sigh as she adjusted her heavy pack. Since the bus now had a radio installed, Yomi took Osaka's pack to stay in touch with everyone. "I still think we should have gone ahead to Toudai," Yomi complained. "Assuming we are lucky enough to find one in good condition today it would still take us almost a week to get it armored and everything."

"Every time we've tried to rush something goes wrong," Kaorin pointed out. "It's best to stack the odds in our favor as much as possible." "And besides that," she continued as the group crossed a street to the next block, "It's not like the bus. It will take maybe a day to armor it."

"Can you even fix it?" Tomo irritatingly prodded. "It's not a car or an airplane." "I'll bet you won't have a clue how it works," the wildcat taunted as she tried to elicit a response.

Kaorin's response wasn't what the wildcat had hoped for. As something moved in the corner of her eye, Kaorin spun around with her rifle drawn and inadvertently pointed it directly at Tomo.

Tomo put up her hands defensively. "Hey!" Tomo yelped, "I was just kidding."

"Get down!" Yomi barked as she also brought her weapon to bear.

Kaorin anxiously swirled her rifle about as she tried to ascertain where the phantom she saw went. "Did you see it too?" she asked.

"It's behind this building," the bespectacled woman said as she pointed with her weapon.

While Yomi and Kaorin stood like statues as they diligently watched the alley, Tomo moved out of the way and leaned against the building they were standing next to. "I wish I'd gone on the bus," Tomo lamented as she slid down into a sitting position with her shotgun tightly clenched to her chest.

"Up!" Kaorin suddenly shouted as she whipped her gun up to the roof of the building next to the girls and began walking out into the street. "It went to the roof!"

Yomi also walked into the street as she scanned the rooftop. "Come on Tomo!" she shouted to her friend as she noticed that Tomo hadn't made even the slightest attempt to move. Tomo staggered to her feet, but hesitated as her presence was suddenly cast in shadow. The giant bug had finally exposed itself as it began to crawl down the face of the building and towards Tomo. Yomi and Kaorin immediately put fire on the insect causing it to flinch and fall to the ground. As Tomo disappeared under the impressive bulk of the giant insect, Yomi's heart fell. "Tomo!" While Yomi stopped firing, Kaorin continued to shoot the insect despite its proximity to the unseen wildcat. "You idiot!" Yomi berated as she forced the barrel away to keep Kaorin from shooting in Tomo's direction.

"It's not dead yet!" Kaorin protested as she begrudgingly withdrew her rifle.

Yomi couldn't care less. "Tomo!" she desperately shouted as she boldly approached the writhing insect, "Tomo!" As Yomi got within close proximity, the insect suddenly kicked out and hit Yomi in the chest which sent her skidding painfully across the pavement.

As the giant insect pulled itself to its feet it turned to face a somehow uninjured Tomo as she stood frozen against the building. "I'm going to die," she thought as the insect lurched to bite. Unfortunately for the insect, as it instinctively lurched forward before snapping its jaws shut it plowed its own jaws into the wall. Despite its behemoth strength, the giant insect's jaws ground to a halt leaving Tomo unharmed, though thoroughly pinned. As her senses and fears overwhelmed her, Tomo's eyes rolled back in her head and her body went limp in the insect's maw.

Yomi did her best to scramble to her feet as her every breath caused the pain in her chest to intensify. "Tomo!" she managed to yell despite the agony the action caused. With one hand on her chest and the other tightly gripping her rife, she slowly tried to make it to the bug again.

Meanwhile, Kaorin conceded to not putting Tomo in any more danger, so she circled around to shoot at it broadside. As soon as she was certain that she wouldn't inadvertently shoot Tomo, Kaorin unloaded on the insect. The insect recoiled and withdrew its head. When its jaws were freed from the building they snapped shut and Tomo collapsed to the ground.

"No!" Yomi shouted as she watched Tomo fall motionlessly into a heap. As Kaorin continued to fire into the insect it wandered away from Tomo and collapsed, leaving Yomi free and clear to make her way to her friend. "Tomo!" Yomi cried out as she rolled the unconscious girl onto her back and discovered quite a bit of blood. Yomi silently cursed as she quickly dug through her pack for first aid supplies.

Despite having collapsed again, Kaorin wasn't taking any chances as she fired an extra two clips into the behemoth after it stopped moving. After making sure her opponent wasn't going to get back up again, Kaorin quickly ran over to where Tomo and Yomi were. "Is she all right?!" Kaorin fretted as she knelt down next to the duo.

"It doesn't look too deep," Yomi informed Kaorin as she did her best to patch up Tomo. Somehow the bug only managed to give Tomo a gash across her torso and arms just below the collarbone.

Unnoticed by Yomi, the sounds of bugs began to flitter about. "Where is the radio?" Kaorin demanded as she looked around cautiously.

"On my pack," Yomi dismissed, her attention much more focused on the still unconscious Tomo.

"It's not," Kaorin pointed out as she looked around for the valued piece of equipment. She quickly scanned the area and found the radio smashed on the ground where Yomi had fallen. Kaorin ran to the shattered device and flipped a switch to try and turn it on. The device came to life, but quickly crackled and died. Kaorin tried flipping the switch off and on again. "Damn it," she cursed as the radio failed to respond. She then turned to Yomi who was still doting over Tomo. Weighing her options, Kaorin hesitated to draw Yomi away from Tomo. The decision was made for her, however, as the sounds from the bugs drew louder. "Yomi!" Kaorin shouted in a demanding tone, "You need to fix this radio, _now_!"

"I'm not leaving Tomo!" Yomi asserted as she refused to leave Tomo's side.

"We'll all die if we don't call for help!" Kaorin angrily informed Yomi as she tried to figure out the broken pieces. After a couple seconds of looking over the separate parts Kaorin decided that only Yomi would have a chance of repairing it. "Come on Yomi!" Kaorin desperately shouted, "We're going to need help!" Yomi made no move to respond. Even though she had already finished dressing Tomo's wounds it would seem that Yomi just wasn't going to leave the wounded woman's side. "Damn it," Kaorin cursed again as she gathered up the broken equipment and rushed as quickly as she could to Yomi. "Fix it," Kaorin told Yomi in a stern voice as she dumped the heap of electronics next to Yomi.

"Fine," Yomi muttered as she begrudgingly looked away from Tomo's still form to the shattered radio. As she sifted through the misplaced parts Kaorin moved over and crouched down next to Tomo as she readied her rifle. "I don't have the tools for this," Yomi mumbled as she used tweezers from the medical kit as a makeshift tool.

"Maybe we should try to hide somewhere," Kaorin whispered as she looked about carefully. Before she could make up her mind as to what they should do she caught sight of an approaching insect several dozen meters down the street. Without hesitation, Kaorin opened fire on the creature. The giant insect recoiled before ascertaining the location of the gunfire. As it found its target, the behemoth charged toward the girls despite receiving dozens of gunshot wounds. When it drew near, however, it seemed to run out of steam and collapsed into a heap. "Can you get it fixed?!" Kaorin shouted to Yomi as she reloaded her weapon.

Yomi flipped the radio on, but it didn't respond. "I don't know," the brunette admitted as she frantically worked with the heap of electronics.

"If you can't get it working then we need to get going!" Kaorin shouted as she spied another bug, although it crawled from her sight before she could get a shot off at it. "Make a call, now!"

"I think I got it," Yomi replied as she once again tried to turn the radio on. This time it sparked to life. Yomi quickly picked up the receiver and frantically talked into it. "Can you hear me?! We're in trouble and we need help! Tomo and I are hurt!" Yomi reluctantly stopped shouting in hopes of a response from either Kagura or Osaka, but instead the radio sparked violently and actually caught fire. Surprisingly, Yomi did nothing other than watch the fire in a daze even as burned dangerous close to her.

"Did you get it working?!" Kaorin asked as she continued to stare off in the direction the last bug disappeared in. "Is help coming?!" After a moment of not receiving a response, Kaorin tore herself away from keeping watch to find Yomi sitting next to the burning and now totally useless heap. "Yomi!" Kaorin shouted as the fire licked up and ignited Yomi's hair, but still the dazed woman made no effort to move whatsoever. Kaorin awkwardly fumbled over Tomo and yanked Yomi away from the fire. Miraculously she did not land on the still unconscious Tomo. "Snap out of it!" Kaorin screamed at Yomi as she did her best to put out Yomi's hair. After aggressively patting at the flames for several seconds Kaorin managed to extinguish the flames and thankfully Yomi snapped to.

"What happened?" Yomi asked, seemingly oblivious.

"We've got to go find a safe place right now!" Kaorin said as she looked up to find not one, but two giant bugs in plain sight. She quickly brought her rifle to bear and opened fire on the nearest one. "Did you reach the others?!" Kaorin shouted over the combined gunfire as Yomi began to assist.

"What do you mean reach the others?!" Yomi retorted.

"Did you get a transmission through?! I heard you trying to reach the others!" Kaorin shouted as the gunfire died down, both bugs crippled and too far from them to pose a threat.

Yomi shook her head. She tried to remember what just transpired, but nothing came. "I-The last thing I remember was you asking me whether or not I could get it fixed."

Kaorin stared incredulously at Yomi as the woman's recent head injury screamed in the forefront of her mind. Kaorin realized this could be very bad for Yomi, but at the same time it was good that she seemed unaware of it as Kaorin desperately needed her and distractions wouldn't help. "Never mind," she dismissed as she stooped over and picked up the still unresponsive Tomo, "We've got to find someplace safer than this."

"S-Sure," Yomi mumbled as she picked up Tomo's discarded shotgun. It was weird. It seemed like something was wrong, but it was fleeting feeling and every time she tried to focus on it, that feeling vanished. Yomi quickly dismissed the feeling as the matters at hand were much more pressing. She stood up to find Kaorin already darting down the street back the way they came and, thankfully, no bugs in sight that could pose any threat. Yomi silently cursed her luck as she rushed after Kaorin as keeping up with the encumbered Kaorin would be an excruciatingly painful task for her with her wounded chest.

--At a familiar truck--

While Yomi, Tomo, and Kaorin went to retrieve a bulldozer on foot, it was left to Chiyo, Osaka, and Chihiro to take the bus to the abandoned truck and retrieve the rest of the supplies and, if time allowed, to travel to the warehouse to pick up even more stuff. The trip to the bus went as expected. Several bugs attacked, but thanks to the proper armor and plenty of ammo any that did attack posed no threat and ended up dead. Once they had arrived, the women ceased fire to see if they would lose interest like Kaorin had described. And they did, but not all went according to plan as the giant insects began to attack one another again. It cost the girls over half an hour as they waited for the bugs to duke it out and depart. Even if it did slow them down it was, for Chiyo, a grand opportunity to study the behavior of the giant bugs and how they differed from their smaller siblings.

Once the bugs had wandered off Chihiro and Osaka started loading supplies onto the bus. Chiyo was exempt from duty due to her injured leg. Osaka insisted that since she had to work that Chiyo had to record everything now that her camera was working again. Left with that boring duty Chiyo sighed as she sat in the driver's seat. Chiyo thoughtlessly sat the camera in her lap pointed in the general direction of the bus's open door as she stared through what was once a windscreen. The glass was never repaired and instead the girls set up several steel bars in a lattice so it would protect while not completely impeding the vision of the driver. This was not what occupied the young woman's attention, however. Instead she stared at the mangled corpse of a giant insect several meters out in front of the bus. "How long have I been back in Japan?" the little genius sadly wondered. In all this time she had achieved nothing. All her plans were shattered before she even set foot on shore and so far she hadn't picked up even a single piece of the shattered remains.

"Hey!" Osaka yelled at Chiyo as she reentered the bus, "You're doin' it wrong!" Osaka carelessly put down the stuff she was carrying aside then held up her hand next to her face as she pretended she was holding her camera. "Like this!" Osaka scolded, "You gotta do it like this!"

Chiyo was taken aback by Osaka's sudden change of demeanor. "S-Sorry," Chiyo sheepishly apologized as she picked up the camera and imitated Osaka's posture. "Like this?" the little genius played along, still oblivious as to why Osaka got so excited.

"Good," Osaka praised with a genuine smile. The oblivious girl then turned to pick up her abandoned cargo just in time to see Chihiro trip over it. "Uwaa!" Osaka yelled as the ammo spilled everywhere from both Osaka's and Chihiro's cargo.

"What the hell?!" Chihiro berated as she picked herself up off the floor and started scooping up the strewn supplies.

"I'm sorry!" Osaka apologized as she stooped over to try and help with the mess, but lost her footing and ended up falling on top of Chihiro. "Sorry!"

"Get off of me!" Chihiro yelled as she pushed Osaka off of herself and once again started picking everything up. "I swear if things keep going like this we'll never have time for that warehouse."

"Can…-ear me?" a garbled message sounded on the radio. "…in troub-…help! Tomo… -re hurt!"

"Was that Yomi?" Chihiro asked as she abandoned her task and stared at the radio.

Chiyo was much less calm. She scrambled to pick up the radio's receiver. "What's wrong?!" she frantically asked, "Is Tomo all right?!" All three girls stared at the radio for some time before a much clearer voice sparked forth from the device.

"Did you guys hear that too?" Kagura's voice sounded.

"We did!" Chiyo excitedly responded, "Why aren't they responding?!"

"They're in trouble obviously!" Kagura replied, "You need to take the bus and go help them!"

"R-Right!" Chiyo exclaimed as she realized how stupid she was sitting here talking with Kagura while her other friends could be in serious trouble. "We're going!" she announced as she slammed the receiver down and turned the engine on. "Hang on," Chiyo silently prayed as the lumbering bus took off at a slow start.

A/N: Prologue aside this has to be the shortest chapter yet. Not only that but something else about it bothers me, although I can't pinpoint what. It's not that things didn't go according to plan because, after all, they hardly ever do go according to plan. No. Something else is wrong. That aside, the next chapter will not only be longer, but it will be assuredly better. It's also planned to be another chapter focused mainly on drama.

This time I've decided to respond to my reviewers. I'm just so excited I got so many reviews. Even though I'm sure its not that much compared to someone of Sensei's calibur, for me its a ton and I'm very grateful! First off...Yay! Praise from Sensei!

That aside, Vesper asked if I could go deeper on Osaka. The short answer is no. Even though Osaka is one of my favorite characters I just cannot seem to figure out what makes that girl tick. It doesn't matter how many times I've watched the anime I just can't comprehend Osaka's reasoning or train of thought...I wonder if she does have a train of thought...maybe it's more like a ping pong ball of thought...Anyways, that's why I can't give Osaka a bigger part. I'd love to, but it would only show my incapabilites to capture Osaka's...Osakaness. On that note I also flounder on Chiyo and Kimura's characters. Yes, there _is_ more to Kimura's character than just a pervert, even if Kaorin and I are oblivious to what that is.

The other question asked by GrimMoody was if there was any chance Yukari or Nyamo are going to appear. All I can say is that the chance is definately greater than zero.

To my other precious reviewers: although I don't want you to feel left out, I don't know how I should properly respond since you didn't ask questions. Well, except to say thank you, but that still seems kind of unfair. Please forgive my incompetence.


	20. Promise

A/N: It's a little overdue, but at least it's longer than the past few chapters. This one was really hard to write for some reason and it still seems kind of fragmented, but I'll rant later.

--Somewhere on the streets of Tokyo--

Yomi, Kaorin, and the still unconscious Tomo had taken up shelter in the back of a tractor-trailer only a few hundred meters from the burning remains of the radio. "My-My chest feels like it's going to explode," Yomi whined as she once more got into her medical supplies. She quickly retrieved two pain pills and took them.

"Keep it down," Kaorin hissed. It was a miracle that they made it to this makeshift shelter without incident, but they were in no way in the clear yet. Kaorin slowly and cautiously scooted over to the rear doors to take a peek outside. She put her face millimeters from the doors and gently put a hand on one of the doors. Kaorin gave a tiny push and the doors emitted a loud clang as a giant insect's jaws appeared on both sides of Kaorin's head. The poor girl nearly jumped out of her skin as she backpedaled away and aimed her gun at where the bug's head should be. As she tried to catch her fleeting breath and calm her rapidly beating heart Kaorin watched as the bug made an unlikely move. Instead of rending the thin metal and crashing through after the girls, it instead withdrew backwards and left only a jagged hole in each of the doors. Despite being relieved that the bug had apparently moved on, Kaorin couldn't hold in the stress anymore.

"Are you okay?" Yomi whispered after witnessing Kaorin purge.

Kaorin shook her head before emptying the rest of her stomach's contents in a corner away from Yomi and, more importantly, Tomo. "I can't take this anymore," she said in a shaky voice as she did her best to clean herself up.

"The worst is over," Yomi whispered to Kaorin, "All we have to do now is wait for them to leave and then we can go back to the station." Kaorin didn't respond. In the darkness Yomi could barely make out Kaorin's figure. Despite the dim light, it was apparent that something was amiss. At first, Yomi thought that maybe Kaorin was having trouble breathing or even having a panic attack, but after a few seconds it dawned on Yomi that the other woman was crying. Yomi looked to Tomo, back to Kaorin, and then to Tomo again. "Why does it always have to be me?" Yomi silently cursed her luck as she delicately crawled around Tomo and quietly made her way to Kaorin. "Normally I'd tell you to let it all out," Yomi whispered to Kaorin as she put a hand on the crying woman's shoulder, "but you really need to be quiet right now."

Kaorin latched onto Yomi and began to cry into her shoulder. "I-I can't!" she emotionally wailed as she shook her head. "I just…can't," Kaorin repeated as she seriously began to fail in controlling her sobs and started to get dangerously loud.

The bespectacled woman wrapped her arms around Kaorin as she wondered what to do. Comforting others was not one of Yomi's strong points. "What do I do?!" Yomi frantically thought as she began to also panic. She needed to get Kaorin under control, but she had no clue how to do that. "Kaorin," Yomi started, but as soon as she whispered the girl's name she got even louder. "She's hysterical," she mentally noted as she wracked her mind for a way to silence the distraught Kaorin. Running out of options, Yomi actually started considering choking Kaorin or trying to knock her unconscious. However, it appeared to already be too late to prevent their discovery by the prowling beasts. A high pitched, ear piercing noise roared through the shelter as a giant bug raked its claws against the thin metal concealing the women. At hearing the noise, Yomi reflexively tightened her grip on Kaorin.

"Too tight," Kaorin complained as she tried to push Yomi away from herself. When Yomi made no efforts to loosen her grip Kaorin started frantically trying to get out of the woman's arms. "Let me go!" she demanded as she found it harder and harder to breathe. Kaorin's pleas were quickly drowned out by the growing sounds of straining steel. As holes and tears started appearing in the metal from the assault, the newly found light revealed Yomi's face. Instead of anger or fear, all Kaorin could see was a blank expression on the woman's face. "Snap out of it Yomi," Kaorin prayed as she felt as though she was in some sort of trap. In desperation, the frantic woman succeeded in finding Yomi's pistol. Kaorin managed to remove the pistol from the holster and she placed the muzzle into Yomi's side. After hesitating for a moment, Kaorin placed her finger on the trigger. She squeezed the trigger, but before the firearm went off Yomi's grip slackened as she finally came to.

As consciousness flooded back into her, Yomi was vaguely aware of the sounds of tearing metal and the seemingly piercing light leaking in. However the matter that occupied the forefront of her mind was how badly her arms and chest hurt. "Ah!" Yomi yelped as she let go of Kaorin and her arms dropped to her sides and she looked around at the failing walls and ceiling, "What the hell is going on?!"

When Yomi had let go of her, the overwhelmed Kaorin hurriedly scooted herself out of reach of Yomi's arms. "We're screwed," Kaorin choked out as she tried to catch her breath. "They're going to eat us," Kaorin morbidly observed as she frantically pointed the pistol at the various places where the insects were trying to get in.

"Don't fire," Yomi warned as she tried to grasp at the pistol. However, her aching arms kept her from even laying a finger on the firearm. "They might go away if we keep quiet," Yomi pleaded.

"They already know we're in here," Kaorin reasoned, "They won't stop."

"You hope to fight them off?" Yomi cynically questioned.

"What else can we do?!" Kaorin challenged as she inadvertently pointed the pistol at Yomi, "I refuse to die like that!"

The argument came to an abrupt end when the sound of gunshots rang out. Both Kaorin and Yomi looked to the direction the noise was coming from. "That sounds close," Yomi observed in a voice just loud enough to be heard over the straining metal and gunfire. "If we're lucky the bugs will go after those people and leave us alone."

Kaorin quietly agreed with Yomi. "I really hope so," she mumbled even as the sounds of straining metal began to die down as the giant insects began to depart. As soon as the sounds stopped altogether Kaorin let out a sigh of relief. "H-Here," Kaorin nervously choked out as she extended a very shaky hand with Yomi's pistol in her loose grasp. "It's yours," Kaorin explained after seeing a quizzical look from Yomi.

Yomi instinctively checked her holster only to find it empty. "H-How…What…When?" a very confused Yomi incoherently asked as she tentatively took the weapon.

"I…I took it while you were holding me," Kaorin discreetly deflected, still unsure of whether or not she should inform Yomi of the new development or not. At least it seemed that Yomi was still completely in the dark. "Should…Do you think we should try to make it to the station now?" Kaorin seriously asked as she made her way to the back of the bus and peeked through one of the holes torn out by an insect. "Whoever that is shooting seems to have gotten their attention."

"I don't know," Yomi honestly admitted. "I don't think…My judgment isn't something that can be relied on right now," she expressed her feelings as she knelt down next to Tomo. She couldn't recall the last time she had been so confused. Her arms hurt and she didn't know why, Kaorin had her gun and she never realized, and most disturbing was the fact that her recent memory seemed fragmented. "Was it the pain pills?" she wondered as she remembered taking twice the recommended dose. Yomi reluctantly dismissed that idea while she checked on Tomo. After all, Sakaki took this dose all the time and she'd witnessed Kagura taking the same too.

"Is Tomo okay?" Kaorin asked as she pried herself away from watching the streets and located her discarded rifle.

"She's stirring," Yomi marveled as Tomo's eyes finally opened.

As soon as she came to, Tomo let out a hiss and clutched at her new wound. "It hurts!" she whined.

"Not so loud!" Kaorin scolded.

"Leave her alone," Yomi defended as she fawned over Tomo. "Tomo, are you all right?" she asked seriously, "Did you hit your head or anything? You were out for a while."

Tomo did her best to shake her head. "The only thing that hurts is this," she whined as she continued to hold her hand over the long wound.

"That's just a scratch," Yomi assured, "I'm really more worried about what knocked you out for so long."

"She fainted, remember?" Kaorin dismissed as she once more moved to peek out at their surroundings with her rifle in hand.

"People who faint don't stay out that long," Yomi pointed out before a little bit of doubt started clawing at her mind. "I think," she mumbled as she wondered once again if her mind really was starting to fail her. "In any case we really need to get you back to the station so Sakaki can look at you," Yomi told Tomo.

Tomo looked like a deer caught in the headlights as her thoughts finally caught up to the situation. She withdrew her hand from her wound and moved to her abdomen as she sat up. "You-You don't think…?"

Yomi shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted, "I mean you did lose some blood and you were out for awhile."

"We should go now," Kaorin interrupted as she continued to keep watch of their surroundings. "It sounds like the gunfire is getting closer. It'll be big trouble if those idiots drag the insects back here."

"Maybe those people can help us," Yomi offered as she, quite painfully, helped Tomo to her feet.

"The odds are just as good that they'd be hostile!" Kaorin argued, "They could be far more dangerous than any bug!"

"Either way we need to go as soon as possible, right?" Tomo anxiously asked. "Let's hurry up and go," she insisted as she grabbed her gun. She glanced around, but couldn't find any signs of her pack. "Where's the rest of my stuff?"

"We left it behind," Yomi dismissed as she contemplated the unpleasant task of carrying her own gear. Deciding that carrying it wasn't an option she opted to leave most of the supplies behind and only took some ammo out of the bag and a bottle of water. "Let's go," she insisted as she took up position next to Kaorin.

"Who's making all that noise anyways?" Tomo inquired as she also stepped to the doors.

"We don't know," Kaorin explained as she tentatively opened the doors. "That's why we need to avoid them at all costs," she continued before jumping down to the street and then helping the two injured girls down as well.

"I thought our main goal was to find more people so we could have more of an advantage against the bugs?" Tomo asked as she stepped down to the street.

"That was when we were prepared," Kaorin ranted as they started off towards the station, "We're totally exposed here and we barely have any supplies. Whoever those people are we'd be at their mercy instead of the other way around. Whatever it takes, we need to keep away from those people."

"Right now," Yomi interrupted as the group cautiously made their way back towards the station, "all we need to worry about is making sure you're okay."

"Making sure we get back alive is our main concern," Kaorin pointed out.

After making it a couple of blocks the sounds of intermittent gunfire starting getting quite loud. "Let's hurry," Tomo suggested as she picked up the pace.

"Wait," Kaorin ordered. "That gunfire is really starting to get close," she observed, "Maybe we should go back to the tractor-trailer."

"I say we go see if those people can help us," Tomo suggested. "After all, no one can say no to a pretty lady, right?" the wildcat pointed out with a smirk.

"We need to hide," Kaorin said as she looked about for a good hiding place. "There," Kaorin suggested as she pointed to a dark alley across the street, "We can go hide in there."

"Hell no!" Yomi refused, "We have enough problems with the big bugs, that place is probably infested with the regular ones."

"I'll take my chances!" Kaorin insisted as she started for the alley.

"Are you insane?!" Yomi demanded as she and Tomo did their best to hold Kaorin back. "Those people probably will help us and in any case it's definitely a safer bet than walking blindly into a horde of bugs!"

"I don't care!" Kaorin claimed as she struggled against Yomi and Tomo, "At least bugs will only kill me!"

As the women struggled with each other, a familiar bus plowed through the intersection at the end of the street. "Wasn't that our bus?" Tomo asked as she pointed at the spot where it disappeared.

"We need to flag them down!" Yomi asserted.

"They brought friends!" Kaorin warned as two bugs that had been pursuing the bus stopped in the intersection and turned their attention to the three women.

"Call them and tell them to come back!" Tomo pleaded with Yomi as she brought her weapon to bear.

"The radio's busted," Yomi informed Tomo as she too took aim at the beasts.

For a moment, the insects seemed torn as to which direction to head in. Thanks to their indecision, the three women were able to wound them before they could even make a move. The giant insects stood as sitting ducks as several bullets tore through them, snapping their attention permanently to the three girls. "Here they come!" Kaorin warned as the two giant insects finally started charging at the women. The wounded bugs stumbled and bumbled as they tried their best to dash at the girls, however their wounds slowed their progress and the hail of gunfire was too much for them to overcome. The giant insects failed to get within ten meters of the women before they collapsed to the ground from the stream of gunfire coming from the girls.

As soon as the threat had been neutralized the three women instinctively backed up to the face a building as they prepared for more insects to find them. "Should we go after the bus?" Tomo anxiously asked. The gunfire from the bus was still very close, but isolating the location of the noise would be no simple task.

"We'd never catch up to it," Yomi reasoned as she dropped her gun and slid down to sit against the building.

"Yomi!" Tomo fretted as she knelt down next to her friend, "Are you all right?!"

Yomi shook her head. "I got hit in the chest," she explained, "It hurts just to breathe and for some reason my arms are killing me too. I don't know how and I don't know why, but something is very wrong with me."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Tomo reassured. "We could all use a little rest, right Kaorin?"

"If they didn't see us then it's unlikely that they'll find us," Kaorin reasoned as she carefully scanned their surroundings for threats. "We'll probably have to finish walking back," she speculated as she took note of the bad shape Yomi was in, "When we get to the station we can radio them." After taking a last look around for safety, Kaorin allowed herself to sit with the other two girls. "Once you've caught your breath we can start for the station," Kaorin assured Yomi.

"It's nice to see that you're back to your old self," Yomi mused, "You should stay that way for awhile. I really prefer this Kaorin."

"It's really hard," Kaorin admitted, "To keep it together."

"I've told you before," Yomi reassured Kaorin, "If you want to talk, I'll listen."

"It's them!" Tomo interrupted as she jumped up and pointed back in the direction they had come from. Sure enough, the armored vehicle was lumbering towards them with a few bugs doing their best to damage it. Tomo started moving toward the bus, but was held back by Kaorin.

"Wait until they kill the bugs," Kaorin warned as the bus came to a halt a dozen meters away from the girls, "Then we can go get on."

"The gunfire is just going to attract more," Tomo pointed out as she aimed her shotgun in the direction of the bus. "The bus is bulletproof, right?" Tomo dumbly asked as she hesitated.

"It's not!" Kaorin and Yomi simultaneously scolded the wildcat.

The bus door opened up and a familiar figure came into view. "Hurry up!" Chihiro shouted to the girls as she stepped off of the bus and quickly scanned the immediate area for threats.

"Above!" Yomi warned Chihiro despite the pain yelling caused her. Instead of looking to the threat, Chihiro smartly jumped back onto the bus without hesitation as the insect that was on the roof of the bus jumped to the spot where Chihiro stood a second ago. Chihiro opened fire on the bug from the relative safety of the bus as Yomi, Kaorin, and Tomo carefully put fire on it while slowly marching towards the bus. The insect quickly folded under the pressure and crawled over the bus and out of harm's way.

"Get on!" Chihiro shouted from inside the bus.

The girls eagerly complied and quickly piled onto the bus. "Tomo, are you all right?" Chiyo anxiously asked as soon as the women were safely on the bus.

"It hurts, but I think I'll be okay," Tomo explained as Chiyo started the bus. "Yomi seems pretty worried though," she pointed out as she gestured in Yomi's direction.

Yomi nodded in affirmation from her seat next to Kaorin. "We need to get back to the station to make sure everything is fine with Tomo," Yomi elaborated, "And I'm messed up pretty badly too."

"We're going to get the bulldozer first," Chihiro ordered as she pointed for Chiyo the direction they should take. "This is just as safe as the police station and there isn't anything there that we don't have here," she coolly explained as she continued to lean against the driver's seat. "Those of you able need to go man the gun ports!" Chihiro demanded as she pointed to Osaka who was the only one that was doing so.

"Sakaki needs to look at Tomo and Yomi!" Kaorin argued as she stood up.

"They aren't dying," Chihiro countered. "We've already abandoned getting the supplies from the truck so we need to at least get that bulldozer."

"It can wait!" Kaorin angrily retorted as she marched up to Chihiro, "Making sure everyone is okay is much more important!"

Chihiro met Kaorin's gaze with an icy glare. "Go man the gun ports," Chihiro ordered again with a cool indifference.

"You heartless bitch!" Kaorin screamed as she took a swing at Chihiro and landed a hard blow into the woman's face.

Chiyo let out a yelp as Kaorin tackled Chihiro to the ground. "What should I do?!" the confused teenager cried out.

Tomo and Yomi both quickly made their way to the struggling duo as Osaka abandoned her task in favor of grabbing the camera to capture the exciting moment. It took both Yomi and Tomo to pull Kaorin off of Chihiro. "Get a hold of yourself!" Yomi scolded as she and Tomo dragged Kaorin out of arms reach of Chihiro.

While Tomo and Yomi held Kaorin back, Chihiro climbed to her feet. "Chiyo, keep going to the construction site," Chihiro coolly ordered as her fierce gaze never left Kaorin. The woman then spat blood and wiped her mouth before pulling out her revolver and sticking it in Kaorin's face. "What the hell are you all doing standing around?!" she asked rhetorically, "Go keep the bugs off of this thing, _now_!"

Kaorin met Chihiro's fierce gaze with her own. "I'd rather die!" Kaorin challenged, "Go ahead and shoot me!"

Chihiro slowly withdrew the barrel away from Kaorin before abruptly hitting her in the side of the head with the butt of the gun. "We will die if you don't get those bugs off!" Chihiro yelled out.

"What the hell?!" Yomi demanded as she let Kaorin go.

"It takes more than words to get through her thick skull," Chihiro fervently explained, "Now go! Can't you hear them trying to get in?!"

"You really are a heartless bitch," Yomi hissed before turning on her heels and hotly making her way to the back of the bus. "Come on," she coaxed Osaka as she stood next to one of the gun ports. Osaka silently complied as she gingerly put down her camcorder and picked up a gun.

"Kaorin, are you all right?" Tomo asked as she led the dazed girl away from Chihiro and towards the back of the bus.

"That…bitch," Kaorin mumbled as she held her head with her free hand.

After reluctantly leaving Kaorin with Yomi and Osaka, Tomo moved back to the section of the bus with seats left and lay down on her back with a sigh. Her relaxation was quickly and sourly interrupted. "You too!" Chihiro berated as she left the bus's left side gun port and approached the wildcat, "Get up and help out!"

"I'm hurt, I'm tired, and I'm pregnant," Tomo informed Chihiro in a deadpan voice, "Leave me alone, I need a nap."

"I don't care!" Chihiro shouted, "We need all the people we can get!"

Chihiro reflexively ducked as a bullet ricocheted off of the wall of the bus near her head. "Leave her alone!" Yomi asserted as she continued to point her pistol in Chihiro's direction. "I swear if you so much as _touch_ Tomo, I'll kill you," she swore in a dangerous voice.

Tomo got to lie back down as Chihiro reluctantly moved back to the port she had been manning. Usually it'd be a baseless excuse that she'd use to weasel out of doing work, but this time she really was at her limit. Despite the gunfire and sounds of scraping steel, Tomo actually fell asleep.

--Several minutes later at a construction site on the outskirts of the city--

As soon as the bus came to a stop in the construction site Chiyo turned off the engine and the radio and instructed everyone to cease fire. The girls all complied as they withdrew their weapons and sealed the gun ports. After shutting her port, Yomi collapsed down into a sitting position and leaned against the wall. "It really hurts," Yomi whined as she tried her damnedest to ignore the pain.

Kaorin also sought to relieve the pain from her splitting headache thanks to Chihiro's sudden violence. She eagerly rummaged around in her medical supplies and retrieved a few powerful painkillers. Kaorin took one and held out the rest in front of Yomi. "Here," she offered.

"I already took two," Yomi dismissed.

"You're still in pain though, right?" Kaorin coaxed.

"I won't be able to help with the bulldozer if I'm messed up," Yomi insisted as she tried to push Kaorin's hand away.

"That's the point," Kaorin bluntly informed Yomi. "You're in no condition to be working," she elaborated, "You really need to rest and Chihiro isn't about to let you do that without a better excuse than pulled muscles and broken ribs."

Yomi reluctantly took the pills from Kaorin and quickly downed them. "Thanks," Yomi said with a strained smile.

While Yomi and Kaorin whispered in the back of the bus, Osaka, camera in hand, joined Chihiro and Chiyo at the front. "They're not fighting with each other this time," Chiyo quietly observed as the trio watched the bugs as best they could through the windscreen and door.

"Good, maybe they'll leave more quickly this time," Chihiro mumbled.

"They all seem to be going in the same general direction," the little genius noted, "Do you think they're heading to their nest?"

"It doesn't matter," Chihiro dismissed, "Just so long as they are leaving here."

"I wonder if we can make 'em fight each other again somehow," Osaka mused as she did her best to record the insects.

Chiyo made a mental note to remember Osaka's idea. As of right now they didn't know much about the bugs, but if they could make them fight each other, then their task of reducing the threat would be much easier. "When we figure out what makes them tick," Chiyo answered Osaka, "Maybe we could figure out how to make them fight each other."

"Killing them ourselves is easier and more reliable," Chihiro scoffed.

"Okay," Osaka acknowledged as she turned around, set down her camera, and came back with a gun in her hands. She took aim through the windscreen and was about to fire when Chihiro wrestled the firearm away from her.

"Not now!" Chihiro hissed.

Only after watching the little back and forth between the duo did Chiyo notice how badly Chihiro's face had started to swell. It looked like Kaorin had done more damage than it first appeared. "Are you okay?" Chiyo sheepishly asked Chihiro.

It took a moment for Chihiro to figure out just what the little genius was asked. As soon as she realized she put on a sad smile. "It doesn't hurt too much," Chihiro dismissed, "Does it look bad?" Chiyo only nodded. Chihiro let out a sigh as she cast a glance to the back of the bus. "Should I apologize to her?"

"You two really need to stop fighting," Chiyo encouraged.

"She needs to learn to look at the big picture and to stop being so unreasonable," Chihiro defended herself despite there being no accusations.

"I dunno if talkin' to her right now is such a good idea," Osaka offered, "She'll probably hit'cha again."

"It can wait," Chihiro decided as she returned her attention to the now distant insects.

After sleeping through gunfire, the clanging made by the bugs, and the jerky movements of the bus it would seem that nothing would stir Tomo to consciousness. However, what all that commotion failed to accomplish was easily achieved by the woman's own mind. Tomo bolted up from yet another nightmare. Her hand instinctively went to her wound as it protested the sudden motion. As she tried to catch her fleeting breath, Tomo looked around as her mind tried its hardest to catch up. Her mind took hold of a most familiar object as it came into view, "Yomi?"

"You look like hell," Yomi noted, "Are you all right?"

"It was just…just a nightmare," Tomo explained.

Yomi motioned for Tomo to scoot over before sitting down next to her. "Are you all right though?" Yomi prodded, "I mean you don't think anything has happened, right?"

Tomo put her hands on her stomach and shook her head. "It'd hurt or something if anything was wrong, right?" she genuinely asked.

"I guess," Yomi mused before letting out a sigh as she made herself comfortable in the seat.

The two sat in silence for some time before Tomo spoke up. "You broke your promise," she sedately accused.

"Promise?" Yomi asked, not quite understanding what Tomo was getting at.

"You said you wouldn't let anything happen to me until we got to Toudai," Tomo reminded her.

"S-Sorry," Yomi apologized, "I tried my best to protect you."

"I won't forgive you," Tomo challenged as she looked away from Yomi and put her nose in the air.

Yomi cocked an eyebrow. "Oh?" she asked as she took the bait, "So then what do you want me to do to make it up to you?"

"I want a new promise," Tomo requested with a surprising amount of sincerity as she dropped her act and looked Yomi in the eye. "I want you to promise that you'll protect me forever."

"I-I can't do that," Yomi deflected as she shied away from Tomo's stare.

"Then I won't forgive you!" Tomo yelled at Yomi, much to the chagrin of everyone else on the bus who shushed the wildcat.

"I can't make that promise," Yomi asserted, "I'm sorry."

"You owe it to me!" Tomo hissed, "You have to promise me!"

"Tomo," Yomi said seriously as she continued to dodge Tomo's gaze, "I just…I can't make that promise."

"I'm your friend," Tomo reminded Yomi with a little sadness in her voice, "You should want to protect me without even promising." Tomo finally looked away from Yomi as she stared down at her lap. "I've been worried ever since you made that first promise," she admitted. "I've barely gotten any sleep and I've only been able to eat because of this," Tomo said as she held her hands to her abdomen.

Yomi felt an amazing amount of guilt wash over her. "Because of me?" she sheepishly asked.

"There is only one reason why you won't promise to protect me forever," Tomo observed. "Why do you want to die?!" Tomo demanded as she turned to Yomi with a tear streaked face.

Yomi was taken aback by Tomo sudden seroius and accurate question, but she quickly recovered. "Because I'm damaged goods," Yomi managed to say with a straight face. "I got better, but I'm slowly getting worse too," Yomi explained as offered Tomo a sad smile. "Even if I don't die, there's no way I'll be able to protect you forever," she admitted as she tried her best to hold back the tears threatening to break free, "In time I'll be able to do less and less until I can't do anything at all."

"That's not true!" Tomo protested, "Chiyo said you're going to get better!" She eagerly looked to Chiyo to see that everyone had been intently watching the duo. "She's getting better, right?"

"I've only seen improvement," Chiyo supported, "There's no reason for her-"

"She _is_ getting worse," Kaorin interrupted, "I've seen it."

"See?" Yomi pointed out, "I don't really want to die, but I'd rather die while I'm still myself."

"Yomi!" Tomo cried as she latched onto Yomi. "I don't care what happens to you or what you become! I just want you here with me! I don't want to lose you again!"

"With all this commotion and no bugs clawing at the bus I'd say we're in the clear," Chihiro loudly announced. "Let's go get to work and give these two some space," she ordered as she ushered Chiyo and Osaka off the bus.

"She's still pretty heartless," Kaorin bitterly thought as she trailed after.

A/N: I wanted to get to the point where they recover the dozer, but it looks like that will have to wait for next time. Next chapter _should_ have them finally setting out for Toudai. Honestly, they were supposed to make it to Toudai back when Yomi got injured like six chapters ago, but I just love writing action so much more than drama and it seems like whenever I write a lot of action someone ends up maimed. Poor Yomi...and Sakaki...And Kagura...and Yomi again. None of that crap was originally supposed to happen, but I kind of like it anyway. I gave a couple of hints into Kaorin's past, though I'm still going to keep that mostly unexplained for various reasons. The only thing about this chapter that I do like is that Tomo and Yomi finally got more spotlight. Although it would seem that anyone hit by the spotlight crashes and burns. Now I just need to focus some more on Sakaki and Chiyo. I still don't know if I'll be able to do anything serious with Osaka. At least the quirky girl has the benefit of not being in that spotlight that likes to maim people. Oh, and thanks again to all my reviewers and my Sensei!


	21. In Fighting

A/N: It's been entirely too long! I cut this chapter a little short in order to post it sooner, although it's still been far too long since my last update. My inspiration seems to have all but dried up. But enough about me, on with the story for those who are still awaiting.

--Late morning at a construction site--

Kaorin sighed as she tinkered under the hood of a bulldozer. Thankfully there were two bulldozers at this site and both were the same model. Even more fortunately they both still ran, however that was where Kaorin's fortune ended. These big bulky machines were far different from what she was used to and it was proving to be a headache to swap out parts to make one of the machines run at top capacity. Despite the uncooperative machinery, her work wasn't what was bothering Kaorin. "How come every time I try to help out, everything blows up in my face?" she wondered as she let out another sigh.

"Eight," Osaka observed out loud as she stood nearby filming Kaorin's work.

"What?" Kaorin asked as she pulled herself out to reveal her entire upper half covered in dirt and grease.

Osaka couldn't help but laugh. "Ya look like a cartoon after they get blown up," she observed as she continued to laugh.

"What does that have to do with the number eight?" Kaorin irately demanded as she started to let her frustrations get the best of her.

The spacey woman was taken aback a bit by Kaorin's harsh tone, but quickly recovered. "It just that you've been sighin' a lot an' I was worried about ya," Osaka innocently responded.

"I'm just feeling a little guilty," Kaorin admitted as she dove back into the greasy engine in a feeble attempt to flee the uncomfortable situation.

"Ah, about hittin' Chihiro?" Osaka inquired. "She was feelin' bad about that too."

"I doubt that," Kaorin scoffed, "and I don't feel the least bit guilty about hitting her."

"Then what's gotcha so down?" the woman behind the camcorder continued to prod. Kaorin didn't immediately respond as she tried to ignore Osaka. "Did ya hear me?"

Kaorin groaned as it became apparent that the Osakan wasn't simply going to let this go. After thinking for a moment Kaorin decided that maybe it was best to get it off her chest. "Osaka," she asked seriously as she kept herself hidden in the engine, "do you think I'm bad luck?"

"Aren't you an' me tha only ones with good luck?" Osaka observed, "After all, everyone else has been hurt pretty badly."

"But they all got hurt when they were around me, and a lot of the time it was my fault too," Kaorin pessimistically observed. "Even when I try to help out things go badly," she guiltily admitted, "This time too, I was just trying to help and I really screwed up."

"Ah!" Osaka interjected, "If you're havin' bad luck then maybe ya should have Chiyo make ya a charm."

"A charm?" Kaorin asked, her voice echoing confusion and skepticism.

"She's really good at makin' 'em," Osaka informed the irritated woman, "You should ask her ta make one for ya."

"I'd try anything at this point," Kaorin mused.

While Kaorin worked and Osaka observed, Chiyo and Chihiro sat nearby in the shade of the bulldozer that Kaorin had been salvaging parts from. At first Chihiro had wanted to offer to assist Kaorin, but decided that leaving her alone would be the best course of action to prevent another violent confrontation. "We've lost a lot of time, haven't we?" Chiyo sadly observed as she pulled her knees to her chest.

"It can't be helped," Chihiro assured, "We should just be thankful no one is dead yet." Upon seeing Chiyo's disheartened expression, Chihiro decided to steer the subject in a more optimistic direction. "At least it looks like our goal is in sight now, right?" Chihiro offered, "I mean, we have the bus and now we'll have a way to make it through all the rubble. Toudai can't be more than a week away."

"A month ago we thought that Toudai wasn't even a day away," Chiyo observed with a sigh.

"I wish I could tell you with absolute certainty that we're going to get there soon without any problems," Chihiro lamented, "but I can tell you that we've stacked the deck as far in our favor as possible. Something really drastic would have to happen for anyone to be in any real danger at this point."

"What will we do if Toudai is destroyed or infested with those bugs?" Chiyo asked as she fidgeted.

"Why don't you tell me?" Chihiro prodded, "I know you. You're a genius. I'm sure that you have a dozen other places in the back of your mind for where we can go." She then offered Chiyo a reassuring smile. "Just show us where to go and we'll follow," the short haired girl assured.

"If I-Would you follow me to America?" Chiyo reluctantly asked.

"To America?" Chihiro inquired.

"I'm sick to death of these bugs," Chiyo admitted, "If they're not deadlier than the virus then they are defiantly a lot scarier!" The little genius shook her head as she tried to dispel the bad memories associated with the carnivorous insects. "If we run away to America we can just forget about them and focus on a vaccine and on Tomo," she explained.

"If we run away then we are forfeiting the lives of all the people who are still here in Japan," Chihiro observed, "Even more than that if it's true they can cross over to the mainland then we'd also be abandoning all the people left alive in Asia, Europe, and even Africa. I can't do that."

"We can leave it to someone else!" Chiyo argued, "We don't have to be the heroes!"

"Isn't that what everyone is saying?" Chihiro asked rhetorically. "I'm sure everyone that's left alive is thinking surely someone will come along and save us," the insightful woman explained, "I'm not waiting for someone to come and save me, none of us are. I'm sure that most of the rest of our little group feels the same too. We're making it on our own and we're working to save everyone else." Chihiro then put a hand on Chiyo's shoulder. "Isn't that what you're doing to?" she sincerely asked, "You came here to find a cure so you could save everyone, right?"

"I-That's why I came here," Chiyo admitted, "but now that I'm here…It's so scary! And everyone has gotten hurt so badly!" The teenager then latched onto Chihiro and started crying.

Unsure of what to do in this situation, Chihiro actually took Chiyo by the arms and tried to pull the small woman away from her.

Within seconds of Chiyo starting to cry Kaorin somehow caught on. "What the hell did you do to her?!" Kaorin screamed as she stormed towards the duo. "I swear if you hurt her…!"

"What?!" Chihiro asked incredulously as she did her best to convince Kaorin of her innocence, "This isn't what it looks like!"

Kaorin wasn't convinced. Lost in her rage, Kaorin withdrew her pistol and pointed it at Chiyo and Chihiro. "Let her go right now!" Kaorin demanded.

Chihiro had hoped Chiyo would jump in and defend her, but at this point it was too late. Sensing an immediate danger, Chihiro literally threw Chiyo off of herself and jumped up and over the bulldozer she and Chiyo had been resting against. No sooner did she clear the vehicle did two bullets ricochet right where she had been. "Please believe me!" Chihiro shouted from the safety of the opposite side of the bulldozer, "I was only comforting her! Tell her Chiyo!"

"Y-Yes," Chiyo tried to defend Chihiro, "P-Please calm down!"

"Shut up!" Kaorin ordered as she slowly approached the bulldozer with her pistol pointing in the last spot where she saw Chihiro. "I'm going to put an end to this now!"

"Shit," Chihiro silently cursed as she quickly weighed her options. "I can't just shoot her," she reasoned as she rested her hand on her revolver. Having few other options she instead grabbed a different object. "Chiyo! Osaka! Get in the bus _now_!" Chihiro warned. After dishing out the warning Chihiro tried to take a peek to ascertain where exactly Kaorin had moved to. As soon as she leaned out a bullet ricocheted off of the bulldozer right next to her head. "She's really willing to go through with it," Chihiro mumbled to herself as soon as she had withdrawn to safety. She didn't have much of a chance to get a handle on the whole situation, but she had determined that Osaka at least was moving to the bus. "I'll have to try it now," she realized as her glimpse also showed Kaorin getting dangerously close.

"Come out Chihiro!" Kaorin demanded and emphasized her words by uselessly firing a few shots at the dozer before quickly changing the clip. As soon as she looked up after changing the clip she noticed an object in the air and only realized what it was a second too late. With a blinding light and a thunderous boom, Chihiro's flash-bang had performed its duty perfectly. Before Kaorin realized what had hit her, she felt herself being tackled to the ground. She tried to fire her gun at her assailant, only to realize she didn't have it any more. As she struggled she suddenly noticed a sharp pain in her neck.

"Stop struggling damn it!" Chihiro berated as she tried to hold Kaorin still, "Don't you realize the position you're in!"

Finding some spark of reason, Kaorin managed to calm down and try to figure out where her gun went. It took her all of half a second to realize that Chihiro was on top of her and that she had a blade placed against her neck. In her struggling, Kaorin already managed to cut a gash in her neck. "Get…Get offa me!" she demanded as she tried to find her gun.

"I am going to let you up and we are going to go to the bus," Chihiro ordered in a clear, concise voice. "If you don't, then we are both going to die."

Kaorin didn't pay her much mind as she recalled all of the weapons Chihiro kept on her. "What did you do to Chiyo?!" Kaorin demanded as she slowly moved a hand towards one of Chihiro's fully automatic pistols.

"I told you I didn't do anything!" Chihiro asserted, "She was just venting!" She quickly picked up on a hint of movement and in one swift move jumped away from Kaorin, picked up Kaorin's discarded gun, and pointed it at her old friend. "Get on the bus, _now_!" Chihiro ordered as she took her eye off of Kaorin to scan the immediate area, "There's no time left!"

Following Chihiro's subtle movements, Kaorin also took a glance around. What she saw sent chills down her spine. Thanks to the gunshots and the flash-bang it would appear as though every giant insect within two kilometers had begun to descend on their location. "It's my fault," Kaorin realized as she entirely forgot about Chihiro and focused entirely on all of the approaching insects.

"Go now!" Chihiro barked as she sheathed her knife while keeping the pistol trained on Kaorin. The stupefied woman didn't budge even a centimeter. "Kaorin get on the damned bus!" Chihiro screamed. When Kaorin still didn't move Chihiro took careful aim and fired a few shots dangerously close to Kaorin's head. "Go!"

A few bullets whizzing by her head was just what Kaorin needed to snap her out of her daze. Kaorin nearly tripped over herself as she suddenly scrambled to get to the safety of the bus. As soon as Kaorin set off Chihiro followed after with all of the insects swarming towards them. When Kaorin reached the bus door she was roughly pulled onto the bus by Chiyo and Osaka. Before she realized what was going on, Kaorin was on the bus and pushed back away from the door as Chiyo and Osaka prepared to help Chihiro on as well. "Hurry up!" Chiyo urged as she started to realize that Chihiro wasn't going to have enough time.

Chihiro also realized the futility of her efforts. The quick-witted woman stopped dead in her tracks and carelessly discarded Kaorin's pistol. "Flash-bang!" she warned as she withdrew her last one and primed it. Chihiro then tossed the device a few meters away before covering her ears and tightly closing her eyes. With a burst of light and a deafening boom the device once again managed to ward away all of the nearby insects and stagger those further away. Thanks to the reprieve given by the invaluable device, Chihiro now had a clear and open path to the bus.

By the time she could orient herself after the blast, Chiyo found Chihiro already stumbling up onto the bus. "Close the door!" Chiyo yelled, due in part to the temporary hearing loss.

"Got it!" Chihiro acknowledged as she quickly worked the door, sealing out the approaching insects.

For several seconds everyone made no effort to move, even as the sounds of carapace on steel roared into existence. It took a few seconds for everyone to recognize a distraught yelling. "Yomi! Yomi! Wake up Yomi!" Tomo desperately shouted as she shook a completely unresponsive Yomi.

Everyone rushed to the scene, minus Kaorin who simply sat in a stupor and made no effort whatsoever to stem the bleeding. Chihiro was the first to arrive to see Tomo kneeling on the floor as she vigorously shook a motionless Yomi who was sprawled out on the bus's seat. "What's going on?!" Chihiro demanded, "What happened?!"

"I don't know!" Tomo asserted as she shook her head, "I don't know!"

Chihiro leaned in and instead of simply shaking the woman she placed a hand on her chest. "She's breathing," she noted aloud. "Well what happened?" Chihiro coaxed as she tried to keep a level head, "When did this happen?"

"I-I don't know!" Tomo repeated as she continued to shake Yomi.

"How can you not know!?" Chihiro demanded as she started to pry Tomo off of Yomi.

As soon as Chihiro pulled her away from Yomi, Tomo latched onto Chihiro and immediately started to cry as her worries started to overflow. "I-I cried myself to sleep, but-but I…When I woke up she-she was like this!"

Chihiro did her best to stay calm and take charge of the delicate situation. "Chiyo, stay here with Yomi and see what you can do," she ordered before turning to Osaka. "You get on the radio and see if Sakaki can help out at all," Chihiro calmly instructed the spacey woman. Chihiro then looked to the mess of a woman in her arms. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she awkwardly thought as she had no clue how she should deal with the sobbing woman.

Chiyo followed orders and did her best to assess Yomi's condition while Osaka started making her way to the front of the bus to the radio. As the Osakan made her way to the radio she bumped past Kaorin, stirring the woman from her stupor. The first thing that registered for Kaorin was the pain from the fresh wound in her neck. She brought her hand up to the wound and pressed gently up against it as she recounted the events that just happened. Her mind struggled to keep up as her thoughts raced about in a panic. Kaorin instinctively reached for her pistol with her free hand only to discover it missing. "Where did it go?" she mumbled before she remembered that she had lost it in her fight with Chihiro. Conceding to the loss of her firearm she immediately looked about the bus for a new piece. Kaorin woozily got to her feet and started making her way to the back of the bus, bumping past a preoccupied Chihiro on her way to the stockpile of arms. Once she had gotten to the small pile of weapons and ammunition she eagerly retrieved a new pistol, a new rifle, and ammo for both.

While Kaorin obtained her new weapons from the bus's limited supply, Osaka got on the radio to ask for Sakaki's expertise. "Hey, can you guys hear me?" Osaka spoke into the receiver, "I need ta talk ta Sakaki."

--Back at the police station--

Osaka's plea reached the ears of Sakaki and Kagura, but they could barely be heard over the loud sounds in the background caused by the bugs scraping and banging against the bus's armor. Sakaki climbed to her feet with a little help from Kagura and quickly made it to the radio. "Is everything okay?" Sakaki quickly asked, "It's hard to hear you."

"That's just tha bugs," Osaka replied without any concern for the beasts. "But that's not tha problem," the spacey girl went on to explain, "There's somethin' wrong with Yomi so we need ya ta look at her."

Kagura and Sakaki shared a glance before Sakaki responded to Osaka's strange request. "I obviously can't take a look," Sakaki pointed out, "You'd have to bring her here."

"Ah, I guess-" Osaka started, but the transmission cut off after the sounds of gunshots and a yelp.

Sakaki and Kagura anxiously waited for another reply, but after several agonizing seconds it appeared as though one wasn't coming. "Osaka! What was that?" Kagura demanded after snatching the receiver from Sakaki, "Please respond!" After several more seconds of static, Kagura desperately sent another transmission. "Can you hear me?!" she demanded, "Please respond!" Once again, only the sounds of static greeted her back. "What-What happened?" Kagura dumbly asked Sakaki as she set down the receiver.

Sakaki sedately abandoned the radio and slowly limped back to the cot and sat down on it. "We'll have to wait for them to tell us, I suppose," Sakaki informed Kagura in a somewhat desperate voice.

"What are you talking about?!" Kagura demanded, "If they were going to tell us they'd respond!" She then turned her gaze back to the radio that still echoed only static. "Something happened!" Kagura forcefully announced, "We have to do something!"

"What do you plan on doing with just one arm?" Sakaki asked rhetorically and just a little cruelly. "Besides that," she continued before Kagura could retort, "If it's just a problem with the radio then they will get in touch soon or arrive later in the bus."

Kagura shook her head as she continued to protest. "But what if they got attacked by bugs or something and are in big trouble?!" she argued, "We have to do something!"

"If that's the case," Sakaki reasoned as she retrieved a familiar bottle of pills, "then they'd be dead long before we could get there and so there's really nothing we can do." She then popped a couple of the pills into her mouth and swallowed before lying down. "We just need to have faith in them and hope everything turns out okay," Sakaki mumbled as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I moved too fast and now it really hurts," the tall girl explained as she seemed to change the subject, "I'm going to take a nap. Please don't do anything too reckless."

"How can she be so calm about this!?" Kagura fretted as she gnawed on her thumbnail. For a moment she glanced at the dwindling stockpile of weaponry and considered going out and trying to save their friends from whatever peril prevented them from getting in touch, but dismissed the idea almost instantly. At best she could hold a pistol and just the simple task of changing the clip was nearly impossible for the injured woman. "Damn it all," she mentally cursed as her hand hovered over her most recent gunshot wound, "I feel so useless."

--A short time earlier on the bus--

"I obviously can't take a look," Sakaki's voice crackled from the radio, "You'd have to bring her here."

It took the spacey girl a moment to process the facts before responding. "Ah, I guess…" she started, but before she could finish the receiver in her hand exploded causing the woman to let out a yelp. "How did that happen?" she wondered aloud as she stared at her inexplicably uninjured hand that held the receiver only moments ago. Preoccupied with the seemingly bizarre situation she failed to hear Kagura's pleas coming from the radio and the gunfire from the back of the bus.

However, Osaka was the only one that failed to notice the gunshots. Chihiro pushed the distraught Tomo against the side of the bus as she herself also did her best to get out of the line of fire. Pressed into the small space of the seat alongside the other three girls, Chihiro quickly drew her revolver and aimed it at the immediate threat. "She's totally lost it," she decided as she aimed for a fatal shot on Kaorin who was purposefully firing in Osaka's general direction. "Sorry, Kaori" Chihiro mumbled aloud as she squeezed the trigger.

"Don't!" a tiny voice protested as Chihiro's aim was interrupted, causing the bullet to miss Kaorin entirely.

"What are you doing!?" Chihiro demanded as she pushed Chiyo away, "She's going to kill Osaka!" With that Chihiro quickly aimed for Kaorin once again, but this time she was interrupted by a loud bang akin to an explosion. Unable to resist her own reflexes, Chihiro's head snapped towards the new, alarming sound. What she saw sent a chill down her spine. A giant insect had the protective lattice that had been guarding the windshield in its jaws. With a few more pops and bangs, the insect managed to tear out a large section of the lattice. "How!?" her mind raced as she quickly abandoned her irrational attack on Kaorin in favor of focusing on the insect as it tried to crawl through the brand new gaping hole in the bus's armor. She holstered her pistol as she tried to locate Osaka who, in the chaos, seemed to have vanished completely. "Osaka!" Chihiro cried out as she attempted to both find the missing woman and locate a more effective weapon, "Where are you?"

"I'm right here!" the clumsy woman shouted over the chaos, although she made no efforts to reveal her location.

Although Chihiro couldn't find Osaka's exact location, the sound of her voice indicated that she was indeed still up near the front of the bus. "Just keep your head down until that bug's dead!" she ordered. After warning Osaka, she kept her eye on the bug as it tried to force its head through the lattice and waited for a lull in Kaorin's firing. As soon as Kaorin stopped to change her clip, Chihiro dashed to the girl's side and grabbed the first gun she saw. She brought the gun to bear only to find the bug missing. "Where did it go?" Chihiro mumbled aloud as she cautiously scanned the interior of the bus.

"It-It ran away," Kaorin informed Chihiro as she still was trying to put the clip into her gun, but was clearly struggling. Her hands were shaking so badly that it took her several seconds to line up the clip properly and reload the gun. "I'm sorry." Kaorin apologized as she sunk to her knees, whole body trembling now. "Even after all of that," she said in a shaky voice, "you still protected me."

"She didn't notice," Chihiro mentally noted. She quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts. This wasn't the time or the place for such things. "Osaka!" She cried out. "Get back here where it's safer!"

"Okay!" Came Osaka's simplistic reply as she crawled out of her hiding place: the bus's stairs.

"We're scrapping this mission for now!" Chihiro announced with authority. "Chiyo, keep an eye on Yomi's condition." After receiving an understanding nod from the young woman she turned to a still distraught Tomo. "Tomo, you and Osaka are to take the rear gun ports, keep the bugs off of us, understood?" she ordered loud enough for the spacey girl to hear her too. Although Tomo didn't respond, Osaka gave an affirmative. Chihiro had to let out an exasperated sigh. "Looks like Tomo's not of much use right now," she mentally observed. "Kaorin, do whatever you can to help out," she ordered the still shaking woman. "I'm counting on you." She added as an afterthought in hopes that the reassurance would steady the girl's aim. Having given everyone instructions, Chihiro quickly went to the front of the bus and pulled onto the cord attached to the receiver, but when she arrived at the end she found only a small piece of plastic still attached. She dropped the useless item and cursed the luck. Abandoning any hope of calling ahead to the station, she instead climbed into the driver's seat and started the bus. "We're getting the hell out of here!" Chihiro shouted as the bus lurched and took off.

--A little later at the police station--

Sakaki had already slipped into a shallow slumber leaving a fuming Kagura to fret over the fate of their friends. The poor girl was already on the verge of tears as she sat hugging her knees. "Am I really going to have to continue with only Sakaki by my side?" she sadly wondered to herself as she remembered the relatively lonely days she had spent with only Osaka for company. She did her best to dispel the depressing thoughts as she cast a glance at the radio for what seemed like the millionth time. "They can't be dead," she whispered as she tried to reassure herself, "After all, we've beaten the odds every time before." She wasn't convinced by her own boasts. Kagura sighed and stood up, taking the time to pat the dirt off of her rear despite the futility of the effort. She was driving herself insane and she knew it. "I have to get mind off of this somehow," she thought as she looked at Sakaki peacefully slumbering. All of her worries quickly evaporated into anger as she saw how carefree Sakaki was. "What the hell is wrong with you!?" she inadvertently blurted out loud as she allowed her emotions to get the better of her.

The yelling easily woke the tall woman from her silent slumber. Although she was quite surprised, Sakaki barely moved at all in response to Kagura's yelling, a conditioned response learned from the pain any sudden movement caused her in the past few weeks. And because of her sleepy daze Sakaki didn't really catch any of what Kagura said, even though she realized that the woman had been yelling about something. "You're being too noisy," Sakaki mumbled as she carefully shifted into a more comfortable position on her cot.

"Don't go back to sleep!" Kagura demanded.

"I'm tired," Sakaki complained. "Leave me be."

"No way!" Kagura outright refused as she approached the prone woman. "I'm not gonna quit bugging you until you tell me what the hell has gotten into you!"

"You're talking nonsense," Sakaki deflected as she covered her eyes with her arm in a feeble attempt to block out Kagura.

"Look at me!" Kagura demanded as she irately flung Sakaki's arm away from her face, forgetting for a moment the fragile state the woman was in. Although Sakaki yelped at the pain the movement caused, Kagura didn't seem to empathize with the taller woman at all. "You've been acting weird for a while now and it's starting to drive me nuts!" Kagura barked.

Ignoring Kagura's demands, Sakaki refused to look Kagura in the eye. Instead she cast her gaze at a blank wall. "It's not…" Sakaki meekly defended herself, "I haven't changed." Even Sakaki knew that the feeble lie would do little to quell her friend's irritation. "Just leave me alone."

Kagura had half a mind to slap her. Had Sakaki not been injured she probably would have. "I'm not going to leave you alone!" Kagura angrily announced, "And you _have_ changed!" She motioned her one good arm towards the radio. "The Sakaki I know would have been very upset by that! The Sakaki I know cared enough about her friends to be at least a _little_ worried! The Sakaki I know would have tried to fix my shoulder when I got shot! You haven't done anything other than lie around and sleep! Where is the Sakaki I know?!"

Not surprisingly, Sakaki seemed much more unfazed by Kagura's rant than she should have been. She continued to stare at the wall and away from Kagura's burning gaze. "It's…not your problem," Sakaki deflected. "Just let it go," she mumbled more than spoke, "please."

Much of Kagura's anger melted away as she realized that she had gotten Sakaki to open up, even if just a little. It quickly dawned on her, however, that she now had a much more treacherous path ahead. One misstep and Sakaki would likely seize up again and refuse to speak to her, but she still had to find the words that could coax Sakaki into revealing what it was that was haunting her. "S-Sorry I snapped at you," Kagura awkwardly apologized as she tried to find the right words.

After a moment, a ghost of a smile formed on Sakaki's lips as she breathed a sigh of relief. "It looks like they made it—I'm glad." The tall woman breathed as she closed her eyes and managed to relax.

Kagura was clearly baffled by Sakaki's strange statement. "What on earth are you talking about?" The athletic woman asked, not entirely sure what was going on.

"Listen," Sakaki instructed.

"To what?" Kagura asked as she glanced around the cell they had come to call home. After a moment of silence Kagura shook her head. "I don't hear anything."

Sakaki put a finger to her lips in the universal sign for silence to put a stop to Kagura's talking. "Listen." She repeated.

Kagura, once again, humored Sakaki and tried to listen to what it was the taller woman was hearing. Kagura closed her eyes and tried to focus all of her consciousness on detecting some illusive sound. This time she heard it. That unmistakable sound, though faint and distant, brought hope to Kagura's heart as her eyes snapped open and a smile formed on her lips. "Gunfire!" Kagura happily exclaimed. "The others must be coming back!" Kagura immediately moved to the cell's door, but hesitated. Surely the gunshots would bring in a bunch of bugs, and neither Kagura nor Sakaki could wield a gun effectively. "I guess we just have to wait for them." Kagura realized with a bit of disappointment in her voice.

"We have to prepare for them." Sakaki countered as she struggled to her feet. However, as soon as she was on her feet, the tall woman staggered and collapsed painfully back down onto the cot.

"Sakaki!" Kagura cried out worriedly as she shot to the woman's side, "are you all right?!"

The woman in question moaned as her eyes fluttered open. "That hurt," she whined as she winced in pain.

"You can't afford to do anything reckless in your condition." Kagura rebuked. "Just stay here and rest."

Sakaki shook her head as she tried to get up again. "They need me," she feebly argued, "Yomi's in trouble."

"There's nothing you can do until they get in here." Kagura pointed out as she gently kept Sakaki from getting up.

Sakaki didn't have the energy to argue. She simply laid back and closed her eyes. "I hope she's okay."

"Me too." Kagura agreed as the duo anxiously awaited the arrival of the others.

It took several minutes for the gunfire to sound from just outside the station, signaling the arrival of the bus. Then it took many more agonizing minutes for the gunfire to die down as the insects were slaughtered. After that it was only a few moments before Tomo burst in. "Sakaki!" she screeched as she moved to the cell door and quickly opened it. "You have to take a look at Yomi! Something is really wrong with her!"

Kagura helped Sakaki up again as the tall woman struggled to her feet. "What happened?" Sakaki asked as she struggled to stay standing.

"We don't know!" Tomo wailed as she anxiously watched the door, awaiting the arrival of her friend. "She's breathing," she anxiously explained as she kept looking between Sakaki and the open door, "but she won't wake up at all."

"Did she hit her head again?" Kagura asked as she too looked to the door.

"Impossible," Tomo refuted as finally Chihiro came through the door backwards. She was carrying the unmoving Yomi while Kaorin held up the unconscious woman's feet.

The four women all quickly made it into the small cell followed by Chiyo and Osaka who were acting as rearguard. They set Yomi down on Sakaki's cot as the group's de facto doctor immediately tried to find a diagnosis. "You are certain she didn't hit her head?" Sakaki asked as she looked for, and found, Yomi's vitals.

"I know she didn't!" Tomo asserted.

Kaorin shook her head. "She might have." She contradicted Tomo's statement. "A bug hit her in the chest and knocked her flat on her back," Kaorin explained, "but that was a while before she…umm…she fell asleep."

At hearing that Yomi had been hit in the chest Sakaki quickly finished the task of checking Yomi's pupils and pulled her shirt up revealing some very painful looking bruises on her chest. Sakaki checked and tried to make certain that none of the ribs were broken as she quickly tried to come up with a logical excuse for Yomi's condition. "She had these wounds before she fell unconscious?" the would-be doctor asked as she replaced Yomi's shirt, thankful that none of the ribs appeared to be broken.

"Yeah, it was just before we sent out the radio call for help." Kaorin informed Sakaki. "It hit her square in the chest, but she got right back up." She explained as she did her best to help Sakaki in any way she could. After all, with Chihiro and her at odds the title of Kaorin's best friend surely fell squarely on Yomi's shoulders. In fact, it would seem that Yomi was on a very, very short list of people that weren't dead or hated her. "You can fix her, right?" Kaorin pleaded.

Sakaki didn't answer the question. "How long?" she cryptically asked as she took Yomi's vitals again, unsure of what else she could do.

"Before she passed out?" Kaorin asked. Receiving a nod from Sakaki she continued, "It was a good while, an hour—maybe longer." Kaorin then looked to Tomo. "How long did it take her to fall asleep?"

Tomo shook her head. "She fell asleep after me," she choked out as her gaze never left her friend, "so I don't know."

"She must've taken some medicine to alleviate the pain." Sakaki observed, "If she took too much, it could lead to this."

"I-I gave her three pills," Kaorin quickly answered. "She was in a lot of pain and we usually take two, so I thought one more couldn't hurt too much."

Sakaki shook her head. "That's a lot," she explained, "but not enough for this." "Don't take more than two at once though." She added as an afterthought. "You're really only supposed to take one."

Kaorin breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't inadvertently caused her friend's distress, though they still didn't have any answers. She once again thought back to the day's earlier events to try and find some clue or answer. It didn't take long for her eureka moment, although she kind of wished she hadn't. "What-What about five?" she sheepishly asked, "Is five too many?"

"I thought you said you gave her three!" Tomo snapped as she tore her gaze away from Yomi to glare at Kaorin.

"Five might do this," Sakaki informed them, seemingly oblivious to the explosive air the room had taken.

"I gave her three," Kaorin guiltily admitted, "but I forgot that she already took two just after we got you to safety."

"You did this to her?!" Tomo screamed as Chihiro put a hand on the policewoman's shoulder. It wasn't to comfort or reassure the distraught woman, but rather to hold her back from anything she might regret.

"I think she'll be okay then," Sakaki told the others as she slumped down to her knees and actually rested her head on the unconscious girl. "I need to lie down," she sedately complained.

"You can't just give up!" Tomo demanded. "And how do you know she'll be okay?!"

"If she took it hours ago then there isn't a problem," Sakaki explained as Kagura, unsuccessfully, tried to pull her up. "The medicine's effects starts to decline slowly after the first hour or so. If that's the case then she's already started to recover."

Tomo shook her head. "But she won't wake up!"

"Give it time," Sakaki assured as she finally relented and let Kagura pull her back to her feet. "She will probably wake up soon."

"Probably?!" Tomo taunted. "Probably doesn't mean anything!"

"Probably or not, I can't do any more here," Sakaki coolly brushed Tomo off. "I need to lie down."

Tomo easily shrugged Chihiro's hand off and quickly closed the distance between her and Sakaki and smacked the tall woman with all the strength she could muster, nearly knocking Sakaki out of Kagura's grasp. "Your rest can wait! Yomi needs to wake up! So wake her up! Make her better!"

"No," Sakaki boldly refused.

Tomo could barely believe her ears. Didn't Sakaki care at all about Yomi? Enraged, Tomo drew her gun and put it in Sakaki's face. "Fix her, now!" She demanded as tears finally broke free and rolled down her cheeks.

"When I say I can't help any more then I mean it." Sakaki scolded as her own anger began to show. "Do you think I'm a god, that I can magically just make her all better?"

"N-No," Tomo waivered as the gun in her hand started to shake like a leaf, "but you know what's wrong, so you have to know how to fix it, right?"

Unlike Tomo, Sakaki didn't falter at all. Having a gun in her face didn't seem to faze her in the least. "Time fixes it."

"There has to be something else!" Tomo challenged. "I know there are treatments for overdose other than just waiting!"

"It's too late for charcoal, and giving her anything to counteract the drug would only generate additional risks," Sakaki elaborated. "Waiting is the best—the safest option."

Tomo reluctantly dropped her pistol to her side and stepped back from Sakaki. "S-Sorry."

"I'll take that," Chihiro mumbled as she deftly snatched the pistol from Tomo's feeble grasp.

"Yomi's gonna be okay," Kagura announced, doing her best to sound upbeat, "so there really isn't anything to be angry or worried about, right?"

"Right!" Chiyo stepped in, trying to help keep the peace. Despite the reassurances everyone still worried for Yomi's wellbeing, especially Tomo. And although it looked like Yomi would be okay, Kaorin still felt guilty about inadvertently causing this incident and putting Yomi in this condition. Seeing that everyone wasn't about to just suddenly be happy and full of joy Chiyo spoke up again. "I know it's a little late, but let's have lunch!"

"Sounds great," Kagura said, once again putting on a brave face. "And let's get you into the other cell so you can lie down." She said to the woman right next to her.

The duo barely made it into the adjacent cell when Sakaki stopped and erupted into a coughing fit, a very unpleasant thing given Sakaki's condition. When she removed her hand from her mouth a significant amount of blood was visible on her palm. Kagura let out an audible gasp at the sight, but was cut off before she could speak her mind. "Don't say anything," Sakaki quickly pleaded as she did her best to covertly wipe the blood away, "please."

A/N: It may take longer and longer for me to turn out chapters, but I stand by my vow to see this story through to the end! It just seems that I've been losing interest more and more and I cannot seem to find an ounce of inspiration, even though my favorite parts are soon to arrive. If anyone has any advice to pull me from my slump I'd love the encouragement. Otherwise I can only ask that you, my cherished readers, are patient enough to wait for the next chapter. In my boredom I have come up with another story or three, but I refuse to take on any more projects until I finish those at hand, be it this story or Wish. Whichever is finished first.


	22. Departure

A/N: Although it's been a while, I finally finished this chapter. I was trying to experiment with a more introspective style for the first part of the fic, but it lead to a dead-end quickly and I quit doing it early so I could actually get the chapter done. All in all I'm not very happy with the first part, but I'll never get better if I don't do new stuff.

--Late evening at the police station--

It had been a little over a week since the failed attempt to acquire the bulldozer, and things were finally all set in place. The group had been able to finally retrieve the bulldozer without further incident as well as armor it and repair the damage to the bus's armor. They had even piled most of their belongings and supplies into the bus in anticipation. In the morning, they would leave and come hell or high water; they weren't going to return to this forsaken police station. However, in spite of all this, the group's spirits were astonishingly low.

As per the norm, the group had settled in sitting or lying against the wall furthest from the bars to avoid harassment by the occasional bug that showed up. Occupying the two coveted cots were the two with the greatest need for the extra comfort, namely Sakaki, in one cell, and Yomi, in the other. Although Yomi had easily recovered from her mild overdose, she still had severely bruised or possibly cracked ribs and her arms were still recovering from being overly strained.

Although Sakaki had assured Yomi that her ribs were not broken, they sure felt like they were, and it made sleeping that much harder. Even tonight she lay in her cot trying to ignore the pain and the occasional bug noises that she had amazingly become accustomed to.

Her damaged ribs, however, weren't what had bothered Yomi most. Her arms hurt. She still didn't know why, and that was the worst part. The only person that seemed to know was Kaorin, and even though she was vehemently apologetic about the overdose, an incident where Yomi shared in at least half the blame, Kaorin refused to enlighten Yomi about exactly how she injured her arms. "At least the pain is more manageable now." Yomi tried to think optimistically. She wasn't convinced.

Her mind easily wandered as it pursued an elusive prey: sleep. She couldn't help but think to the stressful day a little over week ago when that bug had ambushed Tomo, Kaorin, and herself. That day had been reduced to a blur, thanks to the overdose and possibly the stress, too. Few made it out of that unscathed; even Tomo got hurt. The fact that Tomo had been injured was probably what had haunted Yomi more than anything. Although she and her child seemed to be doing fine, it wasn't an insignificant wound the wildcat had suffered. She had promised Tomo that she would be protected and, as Tomo boisterously informed her before, Yomi had broken that promise. One thing she could remember clearly was the new promise Tomo wanted. Yomi cruelly refused to agree to that promise on that day, and it had been eating at her constantly.

"First thing tomorrow," Yomi vowed as she lazily opened her eyes and looked to the dozing policewoman, now dressed in looser clothing since her uniform no longer fit, "I will make her that promise." She then closed her eyes as she tried to sleep again. "I owe her at least that much. I can rest as much as I want when fate decides that I should."

Fate was something Yomi had long abhorred. It compounded annoyances and tragedies to drive the woman over the edge, but only recently had it pulled out all the stops. The threat of the insects was frightening, the constant fights she and her friends seemed to 'enjoy' so much were deeply disturbing, and her impairment was maddening. Even though it all added up to more than she could handle, she couldn't just give up. If fate hated her so much, then she wouldn't still be around. Surely her purpose was yet to be fulfilled. "I really can't wait to rest though," she bitterly thought as her consciousness began to scatter. "Maybe I really am as selfish as that idiot."

Chihiro watched as Yomi sighed and rolled over. "Can't sleep either, huh?" Chihiro wondered to herself. As de facto leader of the group, she couldn't help but to fret about the imminent departure from their one place of absolute security.

Back when she was alone, Chihiro thought for sure that the one major threat to humanity, at least in Japan, was those horrible insects. After meeting up with her old high school friends —no, Kaorin's old high school friends, she had found out how terribly wrong she was. The disease, which she was certain would no longer prove a threat, had become a scourge not only for Japan, but for the whole world. Although, that wasn't really a threat to her current objective: to keep everyone in the group safe, or at least alive.

No, it turned out that the bugs and the disease weren't nearly as dangerous as people themselves. Kaorin had tried to kill her, she had tried to kill Kaorin, someone had shot Kagura, and at least one person in the group was seriously considering suicide. Compound the threat of bugs and natural disaster on top of all that, and it appeared as though it would be impossible to lead this group to success.

Chihiro sighed as she glanced down at an object in her hand. She ran her fingers over the small plastic card in her hand hoping it could somehow give her the strength to see this through. To make it successfully she needed to keep them from killing each other, prevent the bugs from getting anyone, and pray that fate didn't have any more in store for the group. "We're so screwed," she spitefully thought as she replaced the card into a pocket.

In the adjacent cell, Kagura was also suffering from a terrible anxiety. However, unlike the rest of the group, she couldn't care less about the perilous journey ahead. Only one thing, or rather one person, stuck in her mind. "Sakaki," Kagura whispered inaudibly as she stared at the woman in still slumber.

At first, Kagura had thought that Sakaki had somehow caught that horrible disease again. It was a bittersweet relief that it wasn't so. As Sakaki herself pointed out, she didn't have a fever, so it couldn't have been that disease. However, Sakaki refused to enlighten Kagura any further, no matter how much Kagura bugged her every chance the two were alone.

Kagura never claimed to be the smartest of people, but that didn't mean she couldn't put two and two together. So far, she had eliminated that hemorrhagic fever from the list of causes for coughing up blood, although that didn't prove that Sakaki was okay. Sakaki never claimed to have been just fine or all better. At this point Kagura probably would have allowed herself to be deluded with such a simple lie, too.

"Why keep it from me?" Kagura wondered as she shifted about into a more comfortable position. It wasn't like she'd told anyone about it. She had faithfully kept Sakaki's request and not spoken a word to anyone. The only thing Kagura could think of was that perhaps Sakaki's injuries from the earthquake had caused it, but that didn't make much sense either. How could she have kept it a secret from everyone all this time? Not knowing was driving her nuts, but she had little choice other than to worry. Sakaki wasn't about to enlighten her and she wasn't going to break her promise not to tell anyone. "At least it doesn't look like she's getting any worse." Kagura tried to rationalize as she finally started to doze.

Kaorin sat next to Kagura, staring dazedly at the bars that would serve to keep out any curious bugs. She dreaded the upcoming trip. Even though she had been fine since that day, Kaorin knew it was only because there were no overly stressful situations. When put on the spot, it would seem that she would fold under the pressure like a house of cards. "I'm really losing it." Kaorin thought as she wondered back to a few days ago.

While suspicious, Chihiro grabbing a hold of a crying Chiyo did not warrant Kaorin's malicious attack. In retrospect, even Kaorin could see that what she did was damn near insane. But at the time, she was so upset with Chihiro and with herself that it completely obscured any hint of judgment left in her. Several times before had she been too upset to think clearly, and it always seemed to cause her to put her life and the lives of those around her in peril. It was getting worse too, and that thought terrified Kaorin to no end.

"If I don't stop this somehow, then I'm going to do something horrible," Kaorin realized as she glanced around at the people sharing the cell with her. Given that tomorrow they would set out and almost certainly get into trouble, Kaorin would surely do something she'd regret. It didn't take her long to come to a decision. "Everyone would be better off without me."

--The following morning--

Chiyo was the first to stir and probably the only one to get a half decent night's sleep aside from Osaka, but given the chance, Osaka would sleep the whole day through and then some. "I should start breakfast," Chiyo silently decided after quietly stretching and standing up. "Everyone will need their energy for today."

It didn't take long for the sounds and smells of cooking to wake up the rest of the group one by one. "Morning already?" Chihiro complained as she looked to a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Chiyo.

"You don't look like you've slept very well," Chiyo observed.

"I didn't," Chihiro admitted as she got up and stretched. "I've been worried about today's journey... haven't you?"

Chiyo shook her head. "I've been looking forward to it," Chiyo told her. "Ever since I got back to Japan, I haven't done a single thing I've set out to do. Now today it feels like I'm actually going to start making progress."

"If you only had that upbeat attitude a week ago…" Chihiro mused.

"I'm sorry!" Chiyo immediately apologized, a bit too loudly.

"You're not the one at fault," Chihiro calmly informed the little genius as she put her finger to her lips in a silent gesture for Chiyo to control her volume.

Chiyo nodded. "I know that, but still…"

"I'll hear none of it," Chihiro asserted as she made her way to the cell door and checked around for threats. "Just give me a minute and I'll get the generator started," she assured as she opened the cell.

"Be careful," Chiyo warned as she gave Chihiro a little wave.

Chihiro waved back to Chiyo as she disappeared from sight to approach the adjacent cell. Chihiro had hoped to find some of the other girls awake in the neighboring cell to help her start the generator. Lucky for her, she found not one, but two of the other women awake. Kagura and Kaorin were both awake sitting shoulder to shoulder. Chihiro noticed that the two of them were conspicuously trying their best to look inconspicuous. "They were either fighting, or talking about something private," Chihiro silently observed as she unlocked the cell door. She quickly decided that it would be more prudent to pretend she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. The last thing the group needed today was more drama. "I'm going to go start the generator," Chihiro announced. "Kaorin, come watch my back."

Upon receiving a subtle nod from Kagura, Kaorin reluctantly got to her feet. "Okay," she agreed as she trailed after a now retreating Chihiro.

Chihiro didn't miss the covert motions between Kagura and Kaorin, but also didn't acknowledge them aloud. "So it wasn't a fight," she mentally observed as she led Kaorin towards the generator.

Soon after Kaorin departed with Chihiro, Kagura couldn't help but let her thoughts run to the tall athletic figure still sleeping on the cot. While she wanted to wake her up and pester her once more about her condition, Kagura simply didn't have the heart to stir the woman from her slumber. "This really sucks," she mumbled aloud as she looked to Osaka, who was also sleeping. Unlike with Sakaki, Kagura had no qualms about waking up the spacey woman. "Wake up, sleepyhead," Kagura grumbled as she shook Osaka from her slumber.

Osaka's eyes slowly opened to stare blankly at the ceiling. "Mornin' already?" Osaka complained after a moment of staring at nothing at all.

"Today's the big day," Kagura informed her as she sat against the far wall again.

"Ah!" Osaka exclaimed as she sat up. "I need ta get ready." The Osakan slowly but surely rose from her bed on the ground and headed straight for her camera equipment.

"Hey, Osaka," Kagura prodded, "do you think this is really a good idea?"

Before responding, the strange woman set the battery in her camcorder and put in a fresh memory unit. Clicking the device on and turning to Kagura…she forgot the question. "Huh?"

"Going to Toudai, I mean," Kagura elaborated as she fidgeted. "I know we have to because of Tomo, but it just seems like maybe it's a bad idea. There must be a better way or at least some better timing to go about this."

"I thought you were really psyched about this?" Osaka questioned as she made sure to get everything on camera.

"I was," Kagura lamented, "but then I talked to Kaorin, and now everything seems kind of…bad. Like Yomi; you know what she plans to do after we get there, right?"

"We hafta go though," the girl behind the camera asserted, "otherwise Tomo'll be in big trouble."

Kagura sighed. "I know that, but still, I wish there was a better option." Before Osaka could respond the lights flickered on with a low humming noise. "I guess they got the generator back on."

--After breakfast--

Once everyone had woken up and eaten their fill, Chihiro immediately put all able-bodied persons to work, hauling everything in the cells that wasn't bolted down to the armored bus. Those not so healthy were on lookout duty for any insects that might threaten those working. Of course, thanks her pregnancy, Tomo was on the lookout with the injured leaving only Chihiro, Kaorin, Chiyo, and Osaka to do any work.

While Sakaki and Kagura took guard next to the bus, Tomo and Yomi manned the roof. Instead of focusing on their given task of keeping an eye out for those working below, both Yomi and Tomo were far too preoccupied with their thoughts to notice anything at all going on around them. While Tomo was more than a little concerned with Yomi and what her actions might lead to by day's end, Yomi was fretting over how to explain her feelings to Tomo.

In the end it was Yomi that spoke up first. "Hey, Tomo," Yomi sedately started as she gazed down at the streets below, refusing to meet Tomo's gaze. "Do you remember that promise?"

Did she remember? How could Tomo forget? She had only employed every manner of pressure she could come up with to make Yomi crack so she would make that promise. Today, however, Tomo had no intentions of even bringing it up. If she was going to lose Yomi soon, she didn't want any bitter memories of their last day together. "P-Please, Koyomi…" Tomo begged.

"I've…reconsidered," Yomi reluctantly admitted. The bespectacled girl let out a nostalgic sigh as she mulled over her next words. "I've been putting up with your antics for nearly two decades now," she reminisced, "and still you can get under my skin like no other. For old times' sake, I'll make you that promise," Yomi assured as she chanced a glance at Tomo, who was purposefully looking away from her. "But in exchange, I'll need a promise from you."

"Anything!" Tomo enthusiastically exclaimed as she finally looked up at Yomi, revealing a tear-stained face.

Quite bizarrely, a ghost of a smile tugged at Yomi's lips as she drew her pistol from its holster. "You will regret saying that, probably." She then flipped the gun around in her hand so that she was holding the barrel. With a little wince from her ribs' protests she then handed the gun to Tomo butt first. Tomo drew her arm across her face to wipe away the tears before taking hold of the weapon, but, to her surprise, Yomi didn't let go of the barrel. "I don't know when, but sometime in the future, it looks like I won't be me anymore." She then guided the gun to point right at her face. "On that day…in that hour, I want you to promise that you will send my body to meet the rest of me."

Tomo's face quickly twisted into surprise and horror. "You... you can't ask me to do that!" Tomo exclaimed as she relinquished her hold on Yomi's pistol.

Yomi sighed as she took her pistol, cocked it, and again aimed it at herself. "By your hand or mine, it's going to happen sooner or later." Yomi explained in a detached tone. "The only difference is that if I can rely on you, I get to stick around longer. Otherwise I have to do it myself soon, while I know I'm still in control."

Tomo's expression contorted several times as a thousand emotions stormed through her. "You're insane!" she shouted as she slapped Yomi.

A cold chuckle escaped Yomi's lips as she replaced the hammer and holstered her pistol. "You're probably right," she stoically mused, "but either way, it's your decision to make. My mind is already made up, and I've long since made my peace." Having said her piece, Yomi got up and started walking to the far side of the roof. "I'll keep an eye out in this direction."

Tomo gnashed her teeth and clenched her fists as she was left seething alone. "How can she do this?!" she silently fumed, "It's too cruel!"

--Back on the ground--

While officially on lookout duty, it was out of Sakaki's scope to do much more than rest against the bus and glance about. Kagura, on the other hand, seemed to be the only one to take her lookout duty seriously as she paced back and forth along the block and at each end made sure to look around the corners. Although, each time she crossed by the bus, she stopped to take a glance at Sakaki. Despite it being nearly impossible to tell, Kagura was fairly sure that Sakaki was feeling especially bad today. Once again coming to the end of the block, Kagura carefully looked down each street to ensure there were no signs of those horrible, carnivorous insects. Of course, like the countless other times, she saw nothing that would cause alarm. However, when she turned to pace back to the other end of the block, she spied Sakaki doing something out of the ordinary. Kagura jogged to Sakaki as quickly as her gunshot wound would allow. "What the hell are you thinking?!" Kagura hissed as she finally approached Sakaki's side.

Sakaki gave Kagura a perplexed expression. "What?"

"I saw you just take more of those pain pills!" Kagura scolded. "You just took some like, an hour ago!"

Sakaki shied away from Kagura's glare. "It still hurts," Sakaki reasoned. "Even just breathing…hurts."

Kagura deflated a bit as she calmed down. "I can understand that, but you're risking ending up like Yomi and overdosing!"

"I-I can't help it," Sakaki admitted. "Sometimes it hurts so much that I think it'll be okay even if I die."

"You idiot!" Kagura berated as she barely kept herself from actually striking Sakaki. "Why do you insist on carrying this entire burden all on your own?! Why won't you let anyone help you?!"

"Everyone is already at their breaking point," Sakaki explained as she continued to glance away from Kagura's scrutinizing stare. "Even just a little more stress might start something…bad. I don't want to be responsible for that."

Kagura let out a sigh as she calmed down and reluctantly sat down beside Sakaki. "I don't know if that makes you brave or a coward." Kagura patiently sat against the bus, awaiting a response from Sakaki. Although, after a few moments it was clear that Sakaki wasn't going to say anything. "You're still…not going to tell me anything, are you?"

"You are at your limit too, aren't you?" Sakaki rhetorically asked.

"Not even close!" Kagura boasted; however, her demeanor quickly shifted after her initial reply to a much more somber mood. "Not that it matters," she explained, "I already know there is something really wrong with you, so it's as if I'm already bearing that burden."

"It's…not healing right," Sakaki tried to explain between carefully drawn breaths as she brought her one good hand to her chest. "It won't heal right."

Kagura sighed. "Let me guess," she exhaustedly prodded, "There's nothing we can do about it."

"It would require…very risky surgery," Sakaki elaborated. "It's not going to get better. It won't stop hurting." She then produced the bottle of pills again. "These aren't working as well any more. If I don't find something that works, I'm really going to go insane."

Kagura was at a loss as to a how to comfort her friend. "So…we need to go find something stronger?"

"I'm really in trouble," the tall woman admitted. "Already, my head is always foggy, and even still it really hurts. I want to cry…I want to scream, but if I do, it's just going to hurt even more." Sakaki then looked to Kagura, but it was clear that she was at a loss for words. "It used to be okay," she informed Kagura, "but now it's like the painkillers only make me dull; they don't take away the pain at all."

"We should find you a different kind then," Kagura apprehensively suggested. "Maybe something else will work for you."

"I hope so," Sakaki mumbled. "I'm at my wit's end. I've even been thinking about…joining Yomi."

"Don't- don't talk like that!" Kagura scolded.

Before anything else could be said, Chihiro rounded the bus sporting a grin. "She's all loaded up," she announced as she patted the armored bus for emphasis. "Let's get this show on the road!"

Kagura looked from Chihiro, to Sakaki, and then to the bus as she grit her teeth. "Damn it!" the athletic woman cursed as she punched the side of the bus with her good hand before storming off, leaving behind a bewildered Chihiro.

"Did…something happen?" Chihiro inquired as she gently helped Sakaki to her feet. Sakaki just shook her head as she allowed Chihiro to escort her onto the bus. After helping Sakaki to a seat, she went and sat down on the bus's steps to wait for the others to arrive, doing her best not to confront Kagura.

Kaorin and Chiyo went to get Tomo and Yomi but took a small detour to look at the now barren jail cells.

"It seems really lonely now, doesn't it?" Chiyo observed as she stared at the place they had called home for over a month.

Kaorin wasn't amused. "I'm going to go get Tomo and Yomi," she irately announced.

Chiyo stared at the empty cells a few seconds longer before hobbling after Kaorin. "Wait!" she called out to the retreating woman. "Chihiro said we need to stay together!"

"That's right," Yomi announced as she turned a corner and came face to face with Kaorin, causing her to visibly jump.

"You scared me!" Kaorin scolded as she placed a hand to her chest.

"Let's go!" an irate Tomo huffed as she, too, rounded the corner and marched right on past everyone.

Yomi quickly followed after Tomo, and the other two fell in step as well. "Did something happen up there?" Chiyo covertly asked Yomi.

"She's just being immature, as always," Yomi dismissed, making sure she was loud enough for Tomo to hear.

In response, Tomo spun around, quickly closed the distance and slapped Yomi. "And Yomi's just being a bitch, as always," Tomo yelled right in Yomi's face.

Yomi didn't respond in kind; instead, she just kept walking as if nothing had happened at all. "See?" Yomi called out to Chiyo. "Immature."

Kaorin and Chiyo reluctantly followed after Yomi, leaving a seething Tomo to bring up the rear. Although Kaorin and Chiyo exchanged confused and worried glances, neither one of them could muster the courage to say anything about the troubling incident.

The group walked in an awkward silence all the way out to the bus where an eager Chihiro was waiting for them.

"That was quick," Chihiro praised as she disembarked the bus to allow the group on board. "Chiyo, do you think you can work the dozer?" she asked as she thrust a thumb in the general direction of the heavy machinery.

"S-Sure," Chiyo meekly replied as she changed course and made her way towards the heavily armored machine.

"We're counting on you," Chihiro encouraged as she followed Tomo and Yomi onto the bus. She then quickly scanned the bus to make sure everyone was there. Chiyo was in the bulldozer, Osaka had taken up position at the rear of the bus, and Tomo also could be seen near the rear. Yomi was near the front with Sakaki and Kagura, and Kaorin was behind her. However, when Chihiro looked behind her, Kaorin wasn't to be found. She found the absentee a few meters away from the bus's door looking apprehensive. "Come on," Chihiro ordered. "We're leaving."

Kaorin looked back to the police station before looking to Chihiro and shaking her head. "This is…where I say goodbye," she remorsefully informed Chihiro as she subconsciously took a step backwards. "I'm not going with you. I'm staying here."

"The hell?!" Chihiro demanded as Kaorin turned on her heel and darted back into the police station. Chihiro started after her, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she met Kagura's fierce gaze with one of her own. "You knew this would happen!" she accused.

"Kaorin really thinks it'd be better if she stayed here by herself for awhile," Kagura calmly informed Chihiro. "Maybe she's right. Maybe some time alone will let her sort things out."

"We're not just leaving her here!" Chihiro countered.

"This is what she wants," Kagura explained, "It's not some impulse. She thought this through."

Chihiro forced Kagura's hand away. "Even if that's true, she's going to die if we leave her alone."

"The cells are sturdy enough," Kagura reasoned. "So long as she doesn't leave too often to resupply, I'm sure she'll be okay for a while. We'll come back and get her when things have calmed down."

"Damn it!" Chihiro conceded as she shoved Kagura out of her way and stormed off to the back of the bus.

Back in the cells, Kaorin had locked herself in the closest cell and had all of the keys to the cell with her. She had expected Chihiro or another of the girls to have come after her immediately, but after a few minutes, it seemed like everyone really was okay with her just staying behind. While there was a relief that there was going to be no confrontation, Kaorin couldn't help but feel a crushing loneliness that everyone could cast her off so easily. "I brought it on myself," Kaorin mumbled as she hugged her knees to her chest.

Kaorin was snapped out of her reverie by a loud thump. Looking up she saw Chihiro who had apparently just dropped a large box filled with food, water, and ammo. Chihiro gave Kaorin a cool glare before she started walking off, but after a few steps she hesitated. "We'll come back to get you soon enough," Chihiro coolly announced, not bothering to so much as glance back towards Kaorin. "Don't you _dare_ die before we get back!" she barked before she started off again, this time disappearing out of sight.

As she looked to the box of supplies, Kaorin couldn't help but allow a small smile to tug at her lips. Even as she heard the bus and the dozer start and take off, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It was as if, for just a moment, all was right with the world again. "I'll wait for you," Kaorin sincerely whispered to the empty room.

----------

A/N: They finally left that damned police station. I had to summarize the retrieval of the bulldozer and the armoring process. Every time I try to write something mundane like that I get bored and that usually results in a bug or a big fight, so I just put it in retrospect. Hopefully I can get them to their destination in the next chapter or the chapter after that. For those who may be concerned, I haven't written Kaorin off. Although she probably won't get much mention for a chapter or two. She will get her own chapter fairly soon though. Well...sort of.

I'd like to give a special thanks to InsertUniquePenNameHere, who is now acting as my editor.


	23. Resolution

A/N: Despite a few hiccups early on in this chapter, I finally managed to get it done. It's another drama filled chapter, although it has a minimal amount of action as well.

--Midmorning near a familiar library--

Although the girls had unanimously decided to circumvent the library to avoid stirring up the nest of bugs there, they didn't take into account the alluring sounds of the engines. As soon as they got within a few blocks of the library, several jumbo insects began ambushing the vehicles. Things quickly got out of hand, and Chihiro ordered they shut off the engines as they tried to hold their ground against the assault. The bulldozer didn't have gun ports like the bus, so the girls had to cover Chiyo while defending the bus against the constant onslaught. Unfortunately, in defending themselves, they only attracted the attention of more bugs from even further away with their gunfire.

"This is useless!" Chihiro complained as she withdrew her weapon from a gun port and ejected the clip. Groping around for a replacement, Chihiro found none. "I'm out!"

"Right!" Kagura acknowledged as she dug through the bus's large stockpile of weapons and ammo. Since she still couldn't make much use of her right arm, she had volunteered to run bullets and guns as needed to the girls that could fight, which was everyone on the bus minus herself and Sakaki. After awkwardly rummaging through a few boxes, Kagura found the spare clips for Chihiro's particular rifle. Because her right arm was still in a sling, she could only carry several at once by setting out a small length of cloth and piling the clips on top of it before hastily wrapping it up and lifting it. She then ran the ammo to Chihiro and hastily dumped the clips at her feet before rushing back to the stockpile.

"I need some ammo over here too!" Yomi painfully shouted as she loaded her last clip into her weapon. "This is a waste of time," she bitterly thought as she peered out at the bugs haphazardly dashing towards the bus. Without much worry or care, she unloaded her remaining bullets into the horde. Unlike most other times while fighting the bugs, this time there was no dire sense of danger. The bus was well armored, and its weak spots had been reinforced. There was little to no chance they could break through the armor of either vehicle, so why did Chihiro order they stop? It was a race against the clock to get to Toudai before the setting sun, and yet, here they were, wasting time and ammo slaughtering bugs that probably couldn't stop either vehicle.

Tomo, on the other hand, was quite enjoying the slaughter. It was effectively letting her vent her frustrations while taking her mind off of a certain bespectacled woman. "Another one down!" Tomo gloated as she withdrew her weapon and began shoving more shells into it. She turned to Yomi to boast but instead caught a frightening sight. While Yomi was distracted with reloading her rifle, a bug had managed to thrust one of its legs through the open gun port and was groping around aimlessly. "Yomi! Look out!"

At Tomo's warning, Yomi did look up. As soon as she saw the leg trying to grab at her, the color drained from her face as she dropped the rifle and froze completely. Despite Tomo and Chihiro yelling at her to act, she remained completely petrified. While Tomo kept uselessly, although desperately, shouting at Yomi, Chihiro took matters into her own hands. She quickly darted over and, avoiding the flailing limb, slammed the heavy gun port cover forcefully into the bug's leg. Although sound in theory, her technique left something to be desired as the bug responded by flailing the leg even harder, hitting both Yomi and Chihiro and knocking them to the ground. Compounding the trouble, the bug managed to ensnare a strap to Chihiro's shoulder holster. Having finally taken a hold of its prey, the bug immediately tried to pull Chihiro through the small gun port, slamming her against the reinforced wall of the bus. The mammoth force of the bug's herculean strength quickly snapped the leather strap once Chihiro had been forced against the wall. Chihiro painfully dropped to the ground as Tomo and Kagura finally snapped into action. While Kagura slammed the gun port closed, Tomo ran over and knelt down next to the two downed women.

"Are you two all right?!" Tomo fretted over them.

"I'll live," Chihiro choked out as she struggled to her feet with a little help from Kagura. "How's Yomi?"

"Something's wrong with her," Tomo replied in a distant tone.

Chihiro looked over to see Yomi lying on her back. Although she looked like she didn't have any injuries, the only signs that Yomi was alive at all was the subtle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. The thing that made the situation disturbing was that fact that Yomi's eyes remained open, albeit glazed over. "What in the...," Chihiro mumbled as she took in the sight. "Did she hit her head again?"

"Come on Yomi…snap out of it," Tomo begged as she gently tried to coax Yomi out of her stupor.

The girls were interrupted as the entire bus gave an exceptional jolt as the insects began swarming over it. "We need to keep the bus secure," Chihiro reluctantly announced. "Kagura, keep an eye on Yomi. Tomo, get back to your port." Predictably, Tomo vehemently refused. Chihiro sighed as she approached her own gun port. "Fine, Tomo, stay with Yomi," the de facto leader begrudgingly relented as she resumed her part in defending the bus, despite her untreated injuries.

Luckily, it only took a few seconds for Yomi to draw in a sharp breath and let out a pained moan. "It feels like I just got kicked in the chest again," she whined as she wrapped her arms around her torso.

"You did," a smiling Tomo informed Yomi as she wiped away unshed tears.

"Wha-When?" Yomi stammered as she tried to clear the fog from her head.

Tomo's smile faded instantly. "J-Just now," she informed Yomi. "Don't you remember?"

Yomi shook her head slowly as her mind reeled, unable to process the information. She pulled herself up off of the floor as she held her throbbing head. "I feel like shit," she complained.

"Eyes on the prize!" Chihiro barked as she pried herself away from her own gun port. "If you're well enough to be on your feet, then you're well enough to shoot a gun! Get to work!"

"R-Right," Yomi mumbled as she picked up her gun off of the floor and reopened the gun port nearest to her.

"Be…be careful, Yomi," The wildcat warned. Tomo then reluctantly moved back to her own port as Kagura and Osaka also resumed their previous duties as well.

Already the onslaught had begun to ebb, and it didn't take the women long to exterminate all of the remaining bugs. After a few moments of silence, all the girls were relieved to find no signs of life outside of the bus. "It looks like we're in the clear," Chihiro announced as she shut the gun port she had been firing from, prompting the other girls to shut theirs as well.

As soon as she was freed from her duties, Tomo ran back to Yomi. "How are you feeling?" she anxiously asked.

"Everything hurts," the bespectacled brunette complained as she sat down and rested against the bus's wall. "Kagura! Bring me some pain pills!" Yomi shouted, despite the pain it caused her head and chest to do so.

"You're really okay?" Tomo prodded.

"You're referring to my lapse in memory," Yomi calmly predicted, eliciting a rather horrified look from Tomo. Yomi sighed before continuing, "It's just more proof that I'm getting worse."

"Yomi, you need to-"

"No," Yomi interrupted. "_You_ need to decide. I've already made my decision, and this doesn't affect it at all."

Tomo shook her head. "You can't…I can't do that. I can't promise you that," Tomo sedately admitted.

"I see," Yomi mumbled. "So I guess you've made your decision, too."

"I have!" Tomo boldly announced as Kagura approached with a bottle in hand. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep you with me!"

Yomi chuckled as she took the bottle of pills from Kagura. "It just takes a promise," Yomi chided as she pried the bottle open.

While Tomo and Yomi talked, Chihiro retrieved a first aid kit. After gathering a few bandages and disinfectant, she shed her shirt to reveal a shallow gash from her collarbone leading across to where her holster was snagged. "Give me a hand," she requested as she noticed Osaka doing little more than taping whatever prattling was going on between Yomi and Tomo.

Osaka turned to notice Chihiro before giving a little nod. "Okay," she assured as she aided Chihiro in patching up the superficial wound.

It didn't take long for the duo to get Chihiro's injury cleaned and patched. As soon as that matter was settled, Chihiro made her way to the front of the bus and got on the radio. "Chiyo, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Chiyo's voice rang from the device.

"Go ahead and clear the road of the corpses," Chihiro ordered as she sat in the driver's seat. "I don't want to blow a tire running over them."

"Understood," the little genius responded shortly before restarting the bulldozer's engine.

"And do me a favor while you're at it," Chihiro added: "I want you to take a good look at the bus to see what damage they did to the armor, and I want you to count the dead bugs and give me a good estimate of how many there are." After receiving an affirmative from Chiyo, Chihiro casually walked back to retrieve her clothing and damaged holster. She quickly redressed and gingerly set her broken holster aside with a forlorn sigh.

The opportunity to really field test the bus's armor finally presented itself, and Chihiro couldn't help but try it out. She couldn't have predicted that a bug would simply bypass the armor in such a fashion. It made her feel a bit guilty that Yomi got hurt, not to mention she was pretty angry at herself for overlooking something so simple and putting everyone in unnecessary danger. Though, on the bright side, the chink in the armor was found out with minimal injury. The repercussions might be severe, what with Yomi's mental state, but at least no one was severely injured this time.

Recalling the incident, Chihiro quickly moved towards the front of the bus and came to a stop in front of Sakaki. The tall girl was all but useless in her condition, so Chihiro allowed her to lie on an empty seat and rest the entire time. "Sakaki, are you awake?" Chihiro prodded.

Aside from an almost inaudible sigh, Sakaki didn't move a muscle as she stayed curled up on the bus seat. "I'm awake," she sedately muttered to Chihiro.

Chihiro didn't let the frustration in Sakaki's voice get to her. "I need your expertise in something," she informed Sakaki.

Sighing again, Sakaki opened her eyes and reluctantly pulled herself into a sitting position. "What's wrong?"

"Don't worry," Chihiro assured, "no one is hurt badly." Sakaki glared at Chihiro when she heard this tidbit. "It's Yomi," Chihiro bluntly stated. "Something weird happened to her, and I thought maybe you would know what's wrong."

Sakaki blinked a couple of times as she adopted a puzzled look. "Weird?"

Chihiro nodded. "She completely froze. Even though we shouted at her, and she was in immediate danger, she just stood there with a blank look on her face."

"Yomi was probably…just frozen with fear," Sakaki dismissed.

"No way," Chihiro immediately refuted. "The look on her face wasn't one of fear. She was just…not there at all. And Yomi even stayed like that for a few seconds after getting knocked down." Chihiro then shook her head. "I don't know what it was, but it definitely wasn't something normal."

Sakaki seemed to think it over for a moment, but, in the end, nothing came to mind. "I…don't know," she regretfully mumbled.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Chihiro admitted with a sigh. "Yomi's not going to take this well."

"I'm sorry," Sakaki apologized before slowly laying back down.

Chihiro sighed again as she dragged herself back to the driver's seat. "Damn it all," Chihiro wearily cursed their luck. They had barely set out, and already they had a significant hiccup. "I'm so sick of this," she mumbled as she held her head in her hands.

"It's all clear now," Chiyo's voice crackled over the radio.

"Good," Chihiro grumbled. "How's the bus look?"

"It's covered in scratches and small dents," Chiyo informed Chihiro, "but it doesn't look like there is any real damage at all."

Chihiro breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. How many bugs did we kill?"

"About 30 or 40," Chiyo recalled. "I didn't get an exact count, sorry."

"That's fine," Chihiro replied as she started the bus. "We're moving out!" she announced both to Chiyo and to the occupants of the bus. At Chihiro's warning, Tomo, Yomi, and Osaka took up gunning positions at the rear to guard the bus in transit.

"Are we still going to circumvent the library?" Chiyo inquired.

"No need," Chihiro dismissed; "any giant bugs that were at that nest have already been taken care of."

"Right," Chiyo acknowledged over the radio as Chihiro replaced the receiver and put the bus in gear.

Between the bus's bulky armor and the bulldozer's inherently low speed, the would-be convoy proceeded at a snail's pace. Although, even if the vehicles were agile enough, it's not like they could go at any significant speed anyway. The roads were too cluttered with abandoned vehicles, rubble, and other debris to go at even a modest speed without risking an accident.

Tomo, Yomi, and Osaka all occupied the three ports on the rear wall of the bus while Chiyo drove behind the bus. This way, if any bugs attacked the bulldozer then the women could easily shoot them down and protect Chiyo.

"This is pretty boring when we don't have any bugs chasing us," Tomo complained as she stared back at the armored dozer.

"I'll take boring over dealing with bugs any day," Yomi scolded.

"We're approaching the library. Be on guard in case there are any lingering giant bugs," Chihiro announced, once again talking into the receiver so that Chiyo could hear her as well.

Nothing seemed to happen until the bus passed within a dozen meters of the library. But when they passed very close to the building, a sudden, deafening roar emitted from the building. A storm of scratching, scraping, and banging sounds assaulted the women, eliciting a sense of dread and panic in all of them. Chihiro floored the bus, although the bulky vehicle didn't respond much.

The bus didn't even make it to the front steps of the library before a flood of insects poured out of the nest. Dozens of the smaller insects quickly engulfed the two vehicles in spite of the fact that it was not only sunny, but also near noon. The girls immediately opened fire, but it seemed to be completely ineffective as the bugs appeared far more quickly than they could down them.

"What the hell?!" Chihiro exclaimed as the bus ground to a halt in the sea of insects. The presence of the insects was far too great for the bus to overcome, and nothing Chihiro did would make the bulky vehicle move. "Move to stopped positions!" Chihiro ordered as she quickly tried to assess any viable options. Following Chihiro's orders, Osaka stayed at the back of the bus while Tomo and Yomi sealed their ports and moved to opposite sides of the bus and manned the ports there.

A garbled message sounded over the radio, but the overwhelming din of straining metal and the banging and scraping from the inundation of bugs made anything short of a scream completely inaudible. Disregarding whatever the message may have been, Chihiro picked up the receiver and yelled into it in hopes of being heard over the racket. "We're trapped! Go ahead and get clear if you can! There's no way we can cover you!"

"There…I…leave…you!" was all that Chihiro could make out from Chiyo's reply. Chihiro could at least take solace in knowing that her transmission was received. "Ready…going…you!" another garbled message sounded.

A few seconds after the last message, the bus gave a violent lurch that was far too profound to be caused by any bug, especially these smaller ones. Osaka shouted something, but it was lost to the ambient noise. Yomi, however, relayed the message. "Chiyo's pushing us! Go!"

Chihiro chuckled as she discovered a newfound respect for the small genius. She tried the gas again, and this time the bus made a slow but steady movement forward. The slow and tedious journey through the sea of flesh seemed to take an eternity, even though in reality it was only a couple of minutes before they broke through. Just as quickly and violently as the bugs surged out when they approached the library, the bugs retreated back into their lair as soon as the vehicles made it a couple of dozen meters away from the library.

"Are we clear?" Chihiro requested from the women onboard as the gunfire tapered off. Receiving an affirmative, Chihiro informed Chiyo that they should stop and assess what damage the vehicles had incurred. "You guys gauge how much ammo we went through and what's left," Chihiro informed the girls as she got up and prepared to exit the safety of the bus. "Oh, and go ahead and start lunch!"

Yomi and Kagura tried to protest, but Chihiro had already stepped off and, if she had heard them, she didn't show it. "Does she really want us to waste more time?!" Yomi exasperatedly shouted.

Chihiro sighed at the ruckus she caused. Although she wouldn't say it out loud, Chihiro never expected them to make it to Toudai in time to fortify even a couple of rooms. As it stood, her plan was simply to make it as far as possible with as few risks as possible, and then spend a night in the safety of the bus; however, the unpredicted behavior threw one hell of a monkey-wrench into things.

"Is it okay to step out like that?" Chiyo asked as she opened the armored hatch sealing the bulldozer's cabin.

"It looks like they're not worried about us so long as we're not too close to the nest," Chihiro dismissed as she looked to the library in the distance. "We've slaughtered all the nearby big ones, so I'd say it's fairly safe to be out for the moment."

"That was really scary!" Chiyo admitted as she clumsily stepped down from the dozer. "I didn't think anything would make them come into direct sunlight."

"My guess is that their instinct to stay out of the sun was trumped by their instinct to protect the nest at any cost," Chihiro informed Chiyo as she began to scrutinize the bus. "You should check the bulldozer for any damage."

Chiyo was a little disheartened at Chihiro's lack of desire to talk, but she followed instructions anyway. Hobbling around the bulldozer, Chiyo found that the swarm of smaller insects managed to do quite a bit of damage. Thankfully, it appeared to be mostly superficial. Only shallow scratches and dents marred most of the tough armor. The only actual damage was a few tears at the seams, but it didn't appear to be too bad. "The bulldozer seems okay!" Chiyo announced to Chihiro.

"That's good," Chihiro brushed Chiyo off as she continued to analyze the bus. The bus was in a little worse shape than the bulldozer. A few dents were severe enough to deform entire plates of armor, and several significant tears compromised other sheets of metal. Although the bus and its occupants weren't in immediate danger, the weak spots were a significant concern. Hopefully, the skeleton of thick steel welded on the inside of the bus would be enough to prevent any bugs from actually boarding the bus.

"The bus looks pretty beat up," Chiyo sadly noted as she approached Chihiro.

Chihiro sighed as she shook her head. "I just hope it can hold together for another day or two," she mumbled.

"A day or two?" Chiyo inquired.

"Forget I said that," Chihiro dodged as she tried not to let the damage to the armor bother her. "Thanks, by the way," she reluctantly appreciated.

"Thanks for what?" Chiyo questioned as she cast a glance at Chihiro to reveal an almost imperceptible blush on her cheeks.

"Back when you pushed us out of that swarm," Chihiro elaborated. "It looks like you really saved us."

It was Chiyo's turn to blush. "I-I couldn't just abandon you."

"You could have," Chihiro contradicted. "Hell, you probably should have. It was really reckless for you to risk getting stuck in that mess with us." Chihiro sighed as she turned and started walking towards the bus's door. "Still, I'm glad you didn't abandon us. So thanks."

"I would never abandon any of you," Chiyo sincerely assured just before she started heading towards the bulldozer.

Chihiro noticed Chiyo moving away and was quick to stop her. "Get on the bus," Chihiro offered, even though it sounded more like an order. "We're having lunch before we continue."

"Right," Chiyo responded with a little smile.

As the duo boarded the bus, they were met with a few glares. Or rather Chihiro was met with glares. "Why are we stopping?!" Yomi angrily demanded as she stormed up to Chihiro. "We're pressed for time as it is! We should skip lunch and head for Toudai right now!"

"We're not taking unnecessary risks," Chihiro calmly refuted. "Everyone will be better off if we take a break."

"We don't have time!" Yomi irately argued.

"Please don't fight!" Chiyo urged as she put herself in-between the two women in an effort to stem the fighting.

"Let's just skip lunch and get going," Yomi said in a measured tone.

Chihiro, fed up with Yomi and her objections, ignored the bespectacled girl and shoved right past her and Chiyo. "So, what's the ammo count?" she inquired.

"We- we used up almost a third of what we brought already," Kagura nervously informed Chihiro as she kept a wary eye on the fuming Yomi.

"Don't ignore me!" Yomi demanded as she grabbed Chihiro and spun her around so that they were face to face.

"You won't listen to anything I say, so why the hell should I pay you any mind?" Chihiro rhetorically asked with as much malice in her voice as she could muster.

Actions speak louder than words, and, as it were, Yomi was fed up with words at this point. Instead, Yomi expressed her contempt by slugging Chihiro with so much force that it nearly knocked the woman down. "Bitch!" Yomi muttered as she shook her now sore hand.

Although she stumbled a couple of paces backward from the force of Yomi's blow, Chihiro managed to stay on her feet and, even more surprisingly, she managed to keep her cool. "Feel better now?" Chihiro half-heartedly asked after spitting blood and wiping her mouth.

"What, you're not going to threaten to kill me or order me around like some dog?" Yomi challenged. "Like you did to Kaorin?"

"I do what needs to be done!" Chihiro argued. "I thought you would have enough sense to drop it after letting your anger out."

"Well, I don't!" Yomi heatedly refuted, but as soon as she got the words out, her facial features softened into a neutral look as her eyes glazed over.

Chihiro's frustrations also quickly ebbed away at Yomi's dramatic change in demeanor. "Yomi?" she tentatively asked. "Yomi, are you still with us?"

"Yomi!" Tomo anxiously cried out as she rushed to the scene alongside Kagura.

"What's going on?" Chiyo inquired as she worked her way around Yomi to find Tomo shaking the woman in an attempt to stir her back to normal. "W-what's going on?" Chiyo timidly asked as she stared at Yomi.

In a flash, Yomi's face again adopted an angry look. "I won't drop it!" Yomi irately yelled, right in Tomo's face. As soon as she realized it was Tomo she yelled at instead of Chihiro, she immediately became apologetic and more than a little confused. "Tomo! I'm sorry!" Yomi vehemently apologized. "I-what…how did you get over here?"

"A seizure!" Chiyo blurted out.

All eyes immediately fell on the small genius, although none more anxious than Yomi's. "I…had a seizure?"

"That's impossible!" Tomo refuted. "She didn't shake around at all!"

"Not all seizures involve convulsions," Chiyo explained. "That looked just like a petit mal seizure," she claimed with an air of confidence.

"What is that?" Yomi anxiously demanded. "What's wrong with me?!"

"It would take some time to explain," Chiyo dodged. "Maybe we should…talk over lunch?"

While Yomi growled at having her arm figuratively twisted, Chihiro let out a little chuckle as she was impressed by the diminutive genius for the second time in the same day. "I agree," Chihiro announced; "breaking for lunch sounds like a wonderful idea."

"Fine, whatever!" Yomi reluctantly and irately dismissed. "Just tell me what the hell this is!"

Chihiro immediately led Kagura away to prepare the meal, although Kagura protested a little at not being able to find out what Chiyo was talking about. Meanwhile, Chiyo coaxed Yomi into one of the bus's seat and Tomo quickly took up the seat next to her, leaving Chiyo to sit across the aisle. And Osaka, of course, sat at an angle from all of the action so she could capture everything on film.

"Tell me what's wrong with me!" Yomi demanded as soon as everyone was settled.

"First off, I need to know how much this has been happening," Chiyo calmly explained. "I know you probably don't remember anything when it happens, but maybe you can recall a gap in your memory that shouldn't be there."

"It's the second time it happened today!" Tomo eagerly offered.

"I've…I've had a lot of memory problems recently," Yomi admitted.

"How recently?" Chiyo prodded. "Since your head injury?"

Yomi shook her head. "I don't remember a whole lot after the injury, but after I got better everything was fine for a while. It was a few days after I found out I've become stupid that I noticed my memory had started acting up again."

"You're not stupid…," Tomo offered as she put a hand on Yomi's shoulder.

"I think she means her aphasia," Chiyo interjected.

"I meant it both ways," Yomi spat as she shrugged Tomo's hand off.

Chiyo was silent a moment as she gathered her thoughts. "I think," the little genius started, "that the stress incurred by the shock of you not being able to read probably triggered the seizures, although the root cause is certainly your head injury."

"Nonsense," Yomi argued. "If I've been having seizures for weeks, I think someone certainly would have noticed it!"

"A petit mal seizure isn't like a grand mal seizure," Chiyo explained. "The only symptoms for a petit mal are the gaps in memory and that during one the person is unresponsive. People can even continue to do relatively complex tasks like walking during a petit mal seizure. And petit mal seizures only last a few seconds to a few tens of seconds, so someone would have to be talking to you or something like that in that small window to even notice anything is wrong."

Yomi took in Chiyo's words with a grain of salt. "How do you know so much about this?" she accused. "You and Sakaki both have been preaching this entire time that you aren't doctors, so how do you know so much about this? Do you even know for sure if this petit mal seizure is what's happening to me?"

"Back in America," the diminutive redhead reminisced, "I had a friend whose little brother had epilepsy. He had over a hundred petit mal seizures every day. Although his were a little flashier than yours, I got to see them a lot," Chiyo explained to Yomi. "I cannot say for certain, but I am very confident that a petit mal seizure is what I saw."

"How can you be so sure about this then?" Yomi skeptically asked.

Although a little disappointed that Yomi couldn't accept her word for it, Chiyo did know how to induce a seizure. "There are several ways to induce a seizure in someone with epilepsy," she somberly told Yomi. "Hyperventilation, flashing lights, and extreme stress can all cause a seizure in someone with a history of them."

Yomi obstinately began to take rapid, deep breaths in an effort to hyperventilate. "Yomi, stop it!" Tomo demanded as she shook the taller woman. Of course, Yomi didn't stop. "Make her stop!" Tomo begged as she looked to Chiyo. "Aren't seizures really bad?!"

Chiyo shook her head. "There isn't really any risk with a petit mal seizure," she mumbled as she watched Yomi intently, waiting on a subtle cue. Sure enough, it didn't take too long before Yomi's breathing rapidly returned to a normal rate. "Yomi," Chiyo prodded as she noticed the change in demeanor, "are you still with us?" Not receiving any response, the small woman leaned forward and snapped her finger in front of Yomi's face. The action didn't elicit any reaction at all. Not even the smallest of flinches.

"Yomi?!" Tomo anxiously fretted as she shook the unresponsive woman. "Yomi wake up!"

Yomi still didn't stir for several seconds, before suddenly starting to breathe deeply again. Only to be almost instantly interrupted by Tomo's frantic shaking and pleading. "Get off of me!" Yomi scolded as she pushed her friend away.

"You had another seizure," Chiyo firmly informed Yomi as she struggled with Tomo. "A petit mal seizure."

Yomi, very reluctantly, began to accept the fact. "S-so I'm having seizures? You know for sure?"

"One hundred percent," Chiyo confidently affirmed.

"So, what does that mean for me?" Yomi seriously asked. "This is going to really make me deteriorate, isn't it? This will kill me soon, won't it?"

Chiyo energetically shook her head. "Not at all!" she assured Yomi. "Petit mal seizures are nothing more than an inconvenience, really. They don't do any real damage at all, although you probably shouldn't drive or anything like that. As I understand it, the prognosis for people with epilepsy who only have petit mal seizures is really, really good. I hear most people actually fully recover!"

"You'd better not be lying to me about this!" Yomi accused as she stood up and stormed off in the direction of Chihiro and Kagura. By making a flashy exit, Yomi was able to hide the small smile that she couldn't contain as a glimmer of hope appeared before her. Even if it was epilepsy, even if it was seizures, at least she understood why her memory was playing tricks on her and why she felt weird from time to time. As much as she fought it, she couldn't beat down the sense of hope that maybe she wasn't on a fast track to being a vegetable after all.

----------

A/N: So now Yomi's mysterious condition has a name, a little bit more is found out about the bugs, and the group has begun it's journey to Toudai. They will arrive in the next chapter, this I swear. Despite the new occurrences, this chapter doesn't really move the plot forward like I'd hoped. Although maybe it's for the best. The plot has been at a standstill for a while and to jump in and make the plot move along very rapidly would seem...unbalanced. It will move forward again next chapter though. Hopefully I can end up at a good pace.

To answer RandomPerson's review, there is no romance, nor is there any future plans for it in this story. If any does occur, it's not in the foreseeable future.


	24. Arrival

A/N: It's been a little long in the making, but finally this chapter is done. This chapter is a bit longer than the norm, and continues to move the story along. Even if it's not very exciting.

--Midafternoon, somewhere in Tokyo--

After the group had eaten a surprisingly peaceful lunch, they immediately set out again in the direction of Toudai. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the would-be convoy only encountered a few large insects on their slow journey after they had passed the nest in the library, so the ride thus far was quite calm. However, this quiet also caused a certain degree of anxiety in the women due to the strange tranquility that seemed so very out of place.

"This is really eerie," Tomo mumbled as she continued to stare out of her gun port.

"What is?" Osaka replied as she too kept a look out for anything that could pose a potential threat.

"There hasn't been a bug in forever," Tomo practically complained.

Yomi leaned in from her own port to glare at Tomo. "Don't jinx us," she scolded.

"Don't you think it's weird though?" the wildcat pointed out.

Yomi shrugged Tomo's comment off. "Not at all. After all, back at the police station we sometimes went for days without seeing a big one."

Tomo was silent a moment as she considered that bit of information. "So why aren't they here?" she blurted out.

"There must not be any nests near here," Osaka insightfully surmised.

Both Tomo and Yomi turned and stared at Osaka. "That makes sense," Yomi muttered, still surprised at Osaka's ingenuity.

"I really wanna go out there," Osaka admitted.

Again, Tomo and Yomi turned to stare at the spacey woman. "Why?" they both queried at the same time.

"Don't'cha think it'd be fun ta go out there an' play?" Osaka honestly asked. "There're no bugs out there... No people, either. We could do anything we want!"

"Yeah, it'd be really cool!" Tomo excitedly agreed, having gotten caught up in the moment.

"Yeah," Yomi sarcastically joined in, "it'd be super fun, up until you get ripped limb from limb by a bug."

"Killjoy," Tomo accused as she finally returned to her task at hand.

Yomi scoffed at Tomo's insult. "I'd rather be a killjoy than be killed."

Tomo nearly dropped her gun as she snapped to look at Yomi. "You really mean that?!" she excitedly asked as she put down her weapon and hugged a very stunned Yomi. "You don't want to die?!"

Yomi was caught off guard as she realized how poorly she had chosen her words. "I…don't know anymore," she reluctantly admitted as she pried the pregnant woman away from herself.

Tomo didn't seem to mind Yomi dodging a straight answer. It was clear that her resolve to kill herself had been thoroughly broken. "Thank goodness," Tomo breathed with a sigh of relief.

It was baffling to Yomi how such a vague response could elicit this significant of a reaction from Tomo. "H-hey, you're supposed to be over there," Yomi tried to sound aggravated, but it came out more like a plea.

"R-right," Tomo stammered as she reluctantly released Yomi and wiped away unshed tears. She then offered Yomi a small apology before returning to her own port with an unshakable smile on her face. As soon as Tomo got back to her port, however, the bus lurched as it came to a halt. "Why do I even bother?" Tomo muttered as she withdrew yet again from the gun port and this time sprawled out on the bus's floor.

Yomi and Osaka also abandoned their tasks and adopted more relaxed positions. "If we keep running into obstructions like this, then we'll never get to Toudai," Yomi bitterly complained.

Since making it past the library, it seemed they could hardly move more than a block or two at a time before Chiyo would have to clear a path for the bus. At first they attempted to go around, but the rubble was just too prevalent since the earthquake, and they ran into a dead end pretty much anywhere they went.

"We're stopping for now!" Chihiro loudly announced as she put the radio's receiver away, drawing several glares from the other women on the bus.

"Stopping again?!" Yomi shouted as she got to her feet.

"Look up," Chihiro solemnly informed the group. "Rain's coming, and we need to prepare to wait it out. The last thing we need is another skirmish with dozens of those bastards."

Kagura, who had heard Chihiro discussing the rain with Chiyo, got up from the seat across the aisle from Sakaki in order to put her own two cents in. "Maybe we should go back to the police station to wait it out," she suggested.

"No way," Chihiro refuted. "We probably wouldn't beat the rain back, nor should we even try to go by the library again."

"What are we going to do then?" Tomo anxiously asked as she, too, got to her feet.

"There is a narrow alley over there," Chihiro said as she uselessly pointed at the bus's solid metal wall, indicating the direction of said alley. "Once Chiyo gets on, I'll try to fit the bus in there. It'll make the sides of the bus fairly impenetrable."

"I wonder if this thing can really keep holding up," Yomi muttered aloud as she lightly knocked against one of the bus's reinforced walls.

After a few minutes, Chiyo had boarded the bus and Chihiro had wedged the lumbering vehicle into the alley. Just in time, too; the sounds of raindrops seemed to start just as the bus stopped. Chihiro let out a frustrated grunt as she leaned back in the driver's seat. "This sucks," she grumbled.

"Do you think it'll stop before nightfall?" Kagura asked as she flopped down in her seat to stare at the ceiling, though it could barely be seen in the darkness now that the bus's engine was off.

"With our luck, it won't stop for a week," Yomi pessimistically observed as she and the other two girls moved up towards the front of the bus so they could also sit down and rest in the bus's seats.

"So what're we going to do?" Tomo inquired as she sat down next to Yomi and clicked on a flashlight.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kagura retorted. "We're going to Toudai as soon as the sun's shining again."

"I know that much!" Tomo argued. "But what're going to do until then!?"

"Keep your voices down," Chihiro hissed.

"She's right," Chiyo quietly asserted as she scooted over to allow Osaka to sit next to her. "It'd be best if we didn't attract any unnecessary attention."

Tomo sighed an irritated sigh. "What, we're just supposed to sit here in silence all night?" Tomo irately complained.

"I don't think that's necessary," Chihiro affirmed as she got to her feet. "As long as we aren't too loud, I don't think they'll detect us. After all, they seem to rely more on sight than anything else."

"So what're we talking about?" Tomo eagerly asked, happy to have something to do.

Chihiro prompted Kagura to sit up and scoot over so that she could sit next to her. "Well," Chihiro proposed as she sat down and leaned out so that everyone could hear her, "I think we should discuss our long term goals."

Tomo blinked a couple of times as she pondered the meaning behind Chihiro's words. "What do you mean?" Tomo questioned as she gave up on trying to understand. "All we've got to do is get a clean room and then work on the vaccine, right?"

"Getting a clean room set up is our top priority," Yomi asserted. "Nothing else matters until then!"

"We have to fortify the place before we work on the clean room," Chihiro pointed out. "But those are short-term goals. We need to do those as soon as we can."

"So, what are you getting at?" Yomi impatiently urged Chihiro.

Chihiro sighed. "I was kind of hoping you guys were at least a little worried about the long-term, too."

"No point in thinkin' that far ahead when we might not even live that long," Osaka sagely stated.

"You can't just assume we're going to die," Chihiro argued. "What kind of frame of mind is that?"

"A practical one," Yomi amusedly informed Chihiro.

Feeling the need to stem another potential fight, Chiyo jumped in. "So what did you have in mind, Chihiro?" the diminutive genius sincerely asked.

Chihiro breathed a sigh of relief that at least someone had some interest in their own future. "Well, I figured we have at least three big goals. We need the vaccine, of course, but we also need to focus on exterminating all of the bugs and rebuilding civilization here."

"How're we supposed to do that?" Kagura challenged. "It's obvious that we can't get near the nests and we're probably the last people alive in Japan. Anyone that's lived this long has probably run off to someplace without bugs."

"I don't believe that we're the last ones alive," Chihiro boldly asserted. "Maybe the last ones in Tokyo, but in all of Japan I'm sure there are some people out there somewhere that have stayed. And as for the bugs, I'm sure we can come up with some way to get the advantage over them."

"It would be helpful if we got more people to help us," Chiyo affirmed.

"You're assuming whoever we find is going to play ball," Kagura argued. "We've been friends for years and _we_ have trouble getting along. I doubt some strangers are going to be anything but a burden. Hell, they'd probably be a threat."

Chihiro nodded. "I thought that too, but the benefits of having more people are probably worth the risk," she explained. "So long as we don't come across a group bigger than ours or more heavily armed, we should be able to assimilate them into our ranks without too many problems."

"There's something really nasty about what you just said," Kagura growled.

"It's not like I'm saying we force anyone we can overpower to help us," Chihiro defended herself. "We would just give them the option of coming with us."

"You're still assuming we can find people," Yomi interrupted. "Even if there are people left, how are we supposed to find them?"

"That's a little complicated," Chihiro explained, "We need to find people to aid us, but we have to make sure we don't stumble across any group that can overpower us. It isn't likely, but I don't even want to think of the possible outcomes of us coming across a large group without morals that wants to force us to join them."

A few of the women shivered at the implications. "I never even considered anything like that," Kagura somberly admitted.

"That's why _we_ need to rebuild society, not let it fall to any jerk with a bunch of guns," Chihiro asserted. "So finding people is important for many reasons, and it outweighs the risks involved."

"You still haven't explained how we're supposed to find people," Yomi reminded Chihiro.

"Do you remember those trucks with the megaphones the government used during the outbreak to advise everyone to stay indoors?" Chihiro started to elaborately explain. "Those were really loud. I wanted to use one of those to try to find people, but after driving around it's clear that wheels are way too slow. And so, I've come up with an even better idea: what we need to do is find a helicopter and rig a megaphone onto that. If we can get a military chopper then we can kill two birds with one stone by also making our firepower superior to most, too."

"Several problems with that," Yomi criticized. "First off, how do we find a helicopter? Second, does anyone here even know how to fly one? And lastly, where does Tomo's clean room fit in all of this?"

"We start looking after we've secured Toudai and have a clean room set up," Chihiro calmly responded. "As for who can fly a chopper... well, you're looking at her. And I know where to find one, too."

"If ya know where ta find one, then why're we drivin' ta Toudai instead of flyin'?" Osaka inquired from behind her camera.

"Two reasons," Chihiro stated, "First of all, it's not in Tokyo, so it's going to be a pain getting to it. Secondly, it might not be in flying condition, so Kaorin needs to take a look at it."

"If I might interrupt," Chiyo meekly interjected, "this sounds good and all, but what about finding a vaccine? Isn't that our main goal?"

Chihiro nodded in affirmation. "One of them, but to get things done will require us multitasking once we get set up at Toudai."

"Seems a little stupid to me," Yomi berated. "Dividing our attention and numbers is too risky for my tastes, especially since you brought up the fact that there could be larger groups than ours with malicious intentions."

"Staying locked up in Toudai and hoping that eight people will be enough for us to stay there indefinitely is even more foolish. Not to mention our little group is missing a certain gender." Chihiro countered. "It needs to be done."

"If you insist," Yomi scoffed. "You said something about insects, too?"

"Yeah," Chihiro confirmed with a nod. "I figure routing any nearby nests would probably do more for our defenses than any amount of makeshift barriers."

"You've gone from stupid to downright insane," Yomi rebuked. "Or have you already forgotten the sea of bugs we just drove through?"

"Like I said before," Chihiro argued her point, "we can easily outsmart them. They are just bugs after all."

As if on cue, a rather large _thump_ sounded from above, causing an instant silence amongst all of the women. Everyone looked to the source of banging and watched as the sounds slowly moved to the back of the bus before going silent. "Do you think it's gone?" Chiyo tentatively whispered after several moments of relative silence. Her question was answered as the thumping returned much more vigorously than before. The banging rushed to the source of Chiyo's voice as the small genius let out a yelp as she covered her mouth. The small sound invoked a series of thumps accompanied by scraping sounds.

Chihiro did her best to keep the women from panicking. After all, fighting back wasn't an option, considering they would be in the bus all night, and fighting off a siege for that long would exhaust both the ammo supply as well as the women. While many of the girls armed themselves with their guns, Chihiro continued to silently gesture for them to remain silent and calm.

Either Chihiro kept everyone from opening fire, or the fact that it was more or less impossible to safely shoot through the roof at the bug was how the women kept just calm enough for the bug to finally relent and cease attacking the bus. This time, no one dared speak even though the bug had gone silent again. Quite disturbingly, there had been no noise of the bug crawling away, meaning it was still just above them.

It took many, many excruciatingly long minutes for the girls to start to wonder if they had simply missed hearing it crawl away. So, not wanting to take any unnecessary chances, the women silently extinguished all lights and prepared to settle down for the night as quietly as possible in spite of the fact that it was early and they had missed their chance to have dinner.

--The following morning--

Thankfully, the dawn brought an end to the rain, allowing the women on the bus to prepare for the rest of their journey in relative peace. Of course, having missed dinner the previous evening, all everyone wanted to do was eat breakfast as soon as possible. Chiyo was stuck with cooking again, doing so on a couple of hotplates powered by car batteries. However, she did have the somewhat dubious help of a certain spacey woman. While Chiyo and Osaka cooked, the rest of the crew was simply lounging about and enjoying the tranquility as best they could.

"Is the food ready yet?" Tomo annoyingly questioned for what had to be the tenth time in just the past few minutes.

"Not yet," Chiyo calmly replied even though her patience was nearing its limits.

Tomo sighed at hearing the same reply she'd heard several times in a row now. "I'm hungry," she complained.

"We're all hungry," Yomi redundantly informed Tomo. "Stop talking about it. It only makes things worse."

"What else is there to talk about?" Tomo challenged as she chanced a peek at Chiyo's progress from her seat near the front of the bus.

"We never did finish that discussion last night," Chihiro butted in.

"That's funny," Yomi sardonically replied, "I thought we did finish that pointless discussion, if you can call it that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chihiro challenged with a bit of ire in her voice.

"You just announced to us _your_ plan for _our_ future," Yomi challenged as she stood up to face Chihiro. "You might have tried to make it look like a discussion, but you're basically just telling us what to do!"

Chihiro quickly got to her feet and stormed up to Yomi. "It _was_ a discussion!" she defended herself. "You're just blaming me because you couldn't come up with any alternative solutions!" Chihiro accused as she angrily poked Yomi in the chest to emphasize her points, having forgotten that Yomi's chest was more than a little sore. "The fact that no one here can come up with a good reason to do otherwise is proof that my plan is the right course of action!"

Sensing another fight, Tomo and Kagura both started to get to their feet to intervene if necessary. "We're all in this together," Yomi choked out through grit teeth, "so I guess I have to play along since everyone else is." Yomi then pulled her pistol from its holster before pointing it at Chihiro. An act Chihiro could have probably prevented, if she so desired. "But let me make one thing perfectly clear," Yomi continued dangerously as she kept the weapon trained on Chihiro. "If you deliberately put any one of us in danger, I'll put a bullet in you."

"Dually noted," Chihiro calmly replied as she fearlessly stared Yomi down.

Not having much else to say, Yomi holstered the weapon before turning on her heel and storming away from Chihiro. "You scared the hell out of me," Tomo scolded as Yomi approached.

Yomi offered a half-hearted apology as she flopped back down onto one of the bus seats. "It just really ticked me off for some reason," the bespectacled woman vaguely explained as she leaned back and sighed.

"It's 'cause you haven't eaten," Tomo pointed out as she sat across the aisle from Yomi. "You're mean when you haven't been fed!" Tomo jokingly antagonized the brunette. Too hungry and tired to retaliate, Yomi merely grumbled her dissent.

"You seem kinda irritable today," Kagura noted as Chihiro returned to her seat.

"Today's the big day," Chihiro rationalized, "so of course I'm all worked up. Everyone is."

"I guess so," Kagura relented as she let her gaze stray to the back of the bus to watch Chiyo and Osaka. As if to vocalize her thoughts, Kagura's stomach gave an inelegant growl. "I'm starving," Kagura complained as she too flopped down into a seat.

Chihiro gave an agreeable grunt as she placed her hands on her stomach. "Next time it rains, I say we eat first and hide second," Chihiro lamely joked.

"We need to find food that doesn't need to be cooked," Kagura replied.

"As if we could find anything like that," Chihiro complained as she tried not to let the smells of food cooking get to her. "Everything not sealed in a tin can got gobbled up by those albino, six-legged bastards."

"I guess that's why we're in here," Kagura mused as she tapped a knuckle against the scrap metal wall, eliciting a chuckle from Chihiro.

"Food's ready!" Chiyo suddenly announced. Her somewhat thoughtless act causing something like a stampede as everyone rushed to the back of the bus to claim their food.

--A few hours later--

As soon as everyone had eaten their fill, which actually took a bit of extra cooking since most everyone wanted seconds, the group set out on a beeline for Toudai. In spite of the regular frustrations of obstructions and ambushes, they made spectacular time and approached their goal shortly before noon.

"Is that it?" Chihiro mumbled aloud as she tried her best to see through the obstructive slats protecting the windscreen. "I think we're here!" she loudly announced once she was sure of the structure's identity.

At Chihiro's announcement, everyone abandoned their task at hand to rush up to the front in order to try and see their fabled goal. "Where is it?" Tomo impatiently demanded as she tried to see it alongside the other women.

Chihiro pointed down the street. "It's there, a few blocks down," she explained as she split her attention between driving and looking at the building in the distance. "See it?"

"I can't believe it," Yomi breathed wondrously as they continued to close in on their target. "We're finally here."

"Back to your stations," Chihiro demanded as a bit of motion caught her eye. "We're not out of the woods yet." No sooner did those words leave Chihiro's mouth did the bus give a lurch as a giant insect did it's best to incapacitate the lumbering vehicle.

Tomo, Osaka, and Yomi scrambled back to the gun ports while Kagura opted to stay up near the front. "There are more!" Kagura pointed out the obvious as several other giant insects darted out of alleys to assault the tandem vehicles.

A mere block away from their goal, and Chihiro had to stop the vehicle so the onslaught could be properly dealt with. "We're stopping," Chihiro warned Chiyo over the radio as she brought the bus to a halt.

"What?!" Kagura indignantly exclaimed as Chihiro grabbed her weapon and prepared to fight as well. "We're so close! Why are we stopping!?"

"You wanna storm Toudai with these things crawling around?" Chihiro spat rhetorically as she rushed off to help the others.

Kagura just growled as she watched Chihiro rush off. After their first dug in battle against the large beasts, Kagura and the others made sure to stock ammo at the gun ports. While much more efficient, it left Kagura with little more to do than feel utterly useless. She pried her gaze away from her friends to look out at the insects again. Disturbingly, even more insects had shown up to the fight. Already there were almost as many as all the bugs they killed yesterday when they had to stop, and it would appear as though the reinforcements weren't about to stop anytime soon. However, while most dashed at the bus to attack, the rest actually proceeded to prey on one another. It didn't take long for Kagura to process the valuable piece of information. She quickly killed the engine before picking up the receiver. "Chiyo! Turn off your engine and be as quiet as possible!" Kagura ordered just before turning off the radio and rushing back to the others to stop them from shooting at the bugs.

Tomo and Osaka complied, having done something like this before. Seeing those two follow Kagura's lead without question also compelled Yomi to reluctantly cease her attack. Chihiro, however, was both confused and enraged at the others' cessation of defending the bus and dozer. "What the hell are you all doing?!" she indignantly yelled. "Fight!"

"Be quiet!" Kagura hissed now that the gunfire had stopped while Chihiro reloaded. "If we're silent the bugs'll kill themselves!"

In Chihiro's perspective, Kagura was probably the most sensible of all of the women, so she reluctantly played along. Although she stopped firing and stayed as silent as possible, Chihiro did quickly go to check on the bulldozer to make sure the lack of cover wouldn't be a fatal mistake for Chiyo. As she peered through a rear gun port she could barely believe her eyes. Already the insects had ceased their assault on the dozer and were now much more interested in mauling one another. "They're killing each other," Chihiro mumbled in disbelief.

Kagura nodded even though Chihiro wasn't looking in her direction. "I figure if they wanna fight each other, we should let them," she whispered just loud enough to be heard by everyone. "Then we'll kill whatever's left."

"Sounds good," Chihiro whispered back as she pried herself away from the gun port and moved back to her own station to observe the bugs there. "How did you know they'd kill each other?"

"I saw some of them fighting each other instead of attacking the bus," Kagura simply explained.

"Why are these ones killing one another? Why do others seem to work together?" Chihiro mused aloud as she watched the fascinating behavior.

"A power struggle, maybe?" Yomi offered as she watched from her own port as the bugs seemed to fight one another. "It's not like a free-for-all. Some of them are still working together, so maybe it's a coup or something like that."

"Like they're that smart," Tomo challenged a bit too loudly.

"Shh!" Yomi hissed at Tomo's outburst.

Everyone remained silent for several seconds after that to make sure they hadn't brought unwanted attention to themselves. Once it seemed the coast was clear, Chihiro spoke up. "Tomo has a point," she tentatively whispered, "there's no way they're _that_ intelligent."

Yomi continued to watch the bugs brawl and observed what had to be at least two different groups fighting one another. "Maybe it's not a coup," the bespectacled brunette relented. "What if it's a war instead? A territorial dispute or something?"

"That makes a lot more sense," Chihiro admitted as a couple of the others nodded their approval. "But that also means that Toudai is smack-dab in the middle of these freaks' battleground."

Nobody liked the implications of that. "So, what're we going to do?" Tomo hesitantly asked after a few seconds of silence. "Isn't it dangerous to try and stay right in the middle of a warzone? What's going to happen at night?!" the wildcat exclaimed, once more getting a little too loud.

"Maybe it's not that bad," Yomi calmly offered. "This is all speculation; we don't know what's going on for sure."

"That aside, it seems like so long as we don't stick our necks out, the damned bugs are more than happy to leave us alone as they kill themselves," Chihiro reassured. "When their numbers dwindle, we'll mop up what's left and then try and get into Toudai."

"But what if they attack at night?" Kagura argued. "If there are this many big ones, can you imagine how many of the normal sized ones there are?"

"We can't give up," Yomi assured. While she didn't want to even think about how much danger she and the others would be putting themselves in by staying in such a hotbed of insect activity, Yomi also knew that Tomo was rapidly running out of time and that they needed to get everything in order as soon as possible. "Let's just hope for the best."

"Screw hope," Chihiro retorted. "We need to rely on our own power and wits, not some divine intervention. Provided Toudai isn't a nest itself, we should be able to make a suitable refuge there before nightfall," Chihiro affirmed as she once again switched ports to get a better view at the insects' in-fighting. "We can definitely do this."

"It looks like they won," Osaka observed as she watched the insects as well. Although the fighting hadn't stopped altogether, most of the remaining bugs were mopping up a few injured insects while others were dragging corpses along.

Chihiro couldn't help but smile. "What are you talking about?" she asked playfully as she brought her gun to bear. "We're going to be the only ones walking away from this battle!" Chihiro shouted as she opened fire, prompting the others to also join in

The insects had clearly forgotten all about the bus. At the sound of the gunshots, they scrambled about for several seconds in a frenzy as they tried to ascertain the threat. Although the insects managed to isolate the source of their attackers, the time lost caused their numbers to easily be cut in half. Those that remained were unable to mount a successful attack of any sort, and it didn't take long for the women on the bus to eradicate all those that remained.

"Is that all?" Kagura pondered as she tried to glance through the occupied gun ports once the firing had stopped.

"Hmph," Chihiro scoffed as she withdrew from her firing position. "That was pathetic," she actually complained as she quickly checked her weapon before letting it fall and dangle by its strap. "Those bastards really are dumb as shit when you get the drop on them."

"Taunt the corpses later," Yomi spat as she also put her gun aside. "We still need to clear Toudai."

Chihiro nodded in approval before hurrying to the front of the bus. "I'll drive us up to the front door," she informed the group as she sat down in the driver's seat.

Kagura quickly joined Chihiro's side as she picked up the receiver and turned on the radio. "Chiyo, we're moving to Toudai now," she calmly informed the redheaded genius.

"Are you guys all right?!" Chiyo wailed over the radio.

"Erm…yeah," Kagura sheepishly replied as she realized how she left poor Chiyo completely in the dark. "Sorry if I made you worry, but everything's fine."

"Thank goodness," Chiyo mumbled as she breathed a sigh of relief.

Of course, with Toudai being so close, it didn't take long at all for them to arrive at the front door. While it was clear that the insects hadn't taken up nest in the hospital and that it had survived the quake without obvious damage, all of its doors and windows were boarded up. "Looks like someone beat us here," Chihiro somberly noted as she shut off the bus's engine.

"Let's hope they're friendly," Kagura mentioned as the rest of the women checked all around the bus to make sure it was safe to step out.

"I'm hoping they're unarmed, or even better, that it's abandoned," Chihiro admitted as she started towards the back of the bus. "All right, everyone," Chihiro announced with authority once she made it to their stockpile of supplies. "Gear up; we're going to go in. We don't need to take the whole building right now, we just need to get an area secure and then work from there." She then turned and pointed to Kagura. "Kagura, you and Sakaki are going to stay on the bus until we know the coast is clear."

"No way!" Kagura protested. "I'm part of this, too! My shoulder hardly hurts at all anymore!" She dumbly pulled her arm out of her sling and tried moving it around to prove her health. Of course as soon as she tried, she cried out in pain as she clutched at her shoulder.

"We cannot leave Sakaki here alone," Chihiro seriously pointed out as she too started to gather necessities into her pack. "Someone has to watch out for her, and you're the best candidate."

Kagura growled as she gingerly placed her right arm back into the sling. "You're only making me stay because of my injury," the athletic woman accused.

"That's right," Chihiro unabashedly affirmed. "You know full well that you're not of much use if we get into a fight in there, and as I said before, someone has to look out for Sakaki. It's nothing personal. It just makes the most sense for you to stay."

Kagura growled again, but this time she begrudgingly accepted Chihiro's words. "Fine," she relented as she sat down. "You guys better not die in there," Kagura added as an afterthought.

"We don't plan to," Yomi interjected as she put her pack on despite the pain the movements and the extra weight put her in. "What did you say about the building being occupied?" Yomi demanded from Chihiro as soon as the pain dulled away.

"It's all boarded up," Chihiro informed the group, "so there is a chance that there are people inside."

"So what're we gonna do?" Osaka asked as she put her pack, complete with radio, on. "Didn't'cha say that it could be dangerous if we find other people?"

Chihiro sighed as she shook her head. "I don't know. We'll have to play it by ear if we run into someone."

"Not much of a plan," Yomi criticized.

"It's not like we have the luxury of time to sit and plan out all of the possibilities," Chihiro argued as she shouldered her pack. She then closed the distance between Osaka and herself and flicked on Osaka's radio. "Chiyo," Chihiro spoke into the receiver, "we're going to pick you up then go in, so wait for us, okay?"

"Understood," Chiyo replied over the radio.

"Are you all ready?" Chihiro seriously inquired as she replaced the receiver. Receiving unanimous affirmatives, she led the group off of the bus. Chihiro launched herself off of the bus and quickly scanned for threats through the sights of her weapon before moving out and allowing the rest off of the vehicle. As the others stepped off in a much more casual fashion, Chihiro rounded the front of the bus to ensure they were safe all around. "It looks safe for now," Chihiro informed everyone as she came back around the front of the bus, sporting a much more relaxed demeanor. "Let's get Chiyo and get this over with."

"Way ahead of you," Yomi drolly informed Chihiro as she pointed to Osaka, who was already helping Chiyo off of the dozer.

Chihiro let out a discontented sigh as she let her frustration pass. "Well, then, shall we?" she cryptically suggested as she motioned with her gun to the boarded-up front door to the large building.

The rest of the group gave an affirmative before they cautiously approached the front doors. "It's pretty scary," Tomo admitted as the group finally stood before their goal.

"The only scary thing is what might be inside," Chihiro scoffed as she carefully examined the doors. Although they were boarded up, it was clear that the hinges and the seam between the doors weren't obstructed. Meaning that the entrance was fortified, not sealed. "Cover me," Chihiro ordered as she warily tugged on the doors. The rest of the group obeyed, pointing their weapons at the door ready to open fire on anything that may lie on the other side. The door, however, did not yield to Chihiro's efforts. No matter how much she pushed or pulled on them, they didn't budge in the least. "Damn it all," Chihiro muttered as she gave up, kicking the doors in spite.

"Let's look for another way in," Yomi suggested. "A window or something."

"Maybe we should knock?" Osaka offered. "Didn't'cha say that there could be people inside?"

Chihiro sighed again. It wasn't an inherently flawed idea, but still there was something distasteful about it. On the other hand, it couldn't hurt, so Chihiro knocked forcefully on the door in a melodic rhythm as proof that it wasn't an insect prowling at the door. "If there is anyone in there, please let us in!" Chihiro shouted at the door to emphasize her knocks.

After several seconds of silence, Yomi spoke up. "So, shall we look for another way in?"

"Waste of time," Chihiro criticized. "The longer we're out here the greater the chances are that some bugs are going to show."

"So how do we get in?" Yomi demanded.

Chihiro pointed to the dozer. "We use the bulldozer and tear this damned door down."

"W-wait!" A fearful voice pleaded from beyond the doors. "Don't break the doors!"

Everyone's attention snapped to the doors at the unexpected voice. A bit of noise could be heard as the unseen person tried to unbar the door. Chihiro quickly took charge, kneeling down a few paces back from the doors with her rifle aimed at them. Tomo and Yomi followed suit, also taking up offensive stances. Now that the duo had the idea, Chihiro motioned first to Yomi and then pointed to the left side of the door, and repeated the same with Tomo and the opposite side of the door. They both easily got the message and moved to each side of the door, fully prepared to assault whatever may lie within or may pour out. She then motioned to the two women and gave the universal "Okay" sign with a nod before rising to her feet and adopting a much less aggressive pose. Although keeping her hands on her weapon, she held it loosely by her side so that it didn't really point in any particular direction. While Tomo seemed quite puzzled, Yomi easily got the picture and did her best to gesture to Tomo to remain vigilant. Although Tomo wasn't completely on board, the door let out a thump before swinging open. As light shone in, it revealed only a single soul.

"A child?!" Chihiro blurted out as she saw a boy who couldn't have been older than ten or eleven.

A/N: So finally they have arrived, even if it is a dozen or so chapters late. Kaorin will return to action soon, and the rest of those who haven't seen much spotlight will get a bit of stage time as well. And, just as importantly, the story is scheduled to continue forward. I just hope that tackling all of that at once won't be a detriment. As my Sensei has pointed out before, trying to cover multiple events at once seems to be one of my weaker points. Maybe the next chapter will be as lengthy as this one without dragging on so much. And hopefully I'll get it done in better time. Of course, all my plans never seem to work out right...


	25. Kaorin's Plight

A/N: I know I said I'd go back and forth between Kaorin and the main group, but as it turns out Kaorin's part ended up being long enough for a chapter all by itself. Not only that, but the longest chapter to date. The next chapter will feature the main group.

* * *

-Just before noon at the police station-

Kaorin lay alone in the darkness on one of the cots. Since she was alone, Kaorin didn't dare even attempt to maintain the generator. The result was that the power in the entire police station was out, so even in the middle of the day, the cells were bathed in darkness. The others had also taken all of the radios, leaving Kaorin with no way to contact them. Not that a signal was likely to reach them with the antenna powered down. So Kaorin was all alone, cut off from her friends to reflect on herself and her actions, although things weren't quite going as planned.

Even though it had barely been a full day since the others had left for Toudai, Kaorin already found herself completely preoccupied with thoughts of her absent friends. Last night's rain couldn't have boded well for them, and that fact worried the already frazzled woman to no end. She was supposed to be using this time to reflect on herself, and yet here she was simply wishing she had gone ahead and joined her friends. "I'm such an idiot," Kaorin berated herself as she stared up at the ceiling from the comfort of the cell's cot. "Or maybe I really am losing it."

Kaorin did her best to push the distracting thoughts from her mind as she glanced over at the box of supplies that Chihiro had left her. Even with careful rationing she only had enough food and water left for a few days, and odds were that she would have to go out to get more before the others returned. It was a very despairing prospect. Retrieving supplies was a dangerous endeavor even with several people. Going alone would be a bloody death waiting to happen. Kaorin had been beside herself on whether she should even try to go out and try to gather more food and water when she ran out or if she should just stay in the cell and shoot herself if her friends didn't return before she started to die of thirst. She was leaning towards the latter.

As if to reassure herself, Kaorin withdrew her pistol from its holster and ejected the clip. "Why do we even still carry these?" Kaorin wondered aloud as she stared at the relatively small ammunition. The bullets might do well enough against the smaller bugs, but the big ones barely even flinch at small arms fire. If anything, the only things pistols had threatened recently would be Kaorin and her friends. Enraged by her own wandering thoughts, Kaorin angrily threw the pistol and clip. While the clip clattered uneventfully through the bars, the pistol slammed into the bars and discharged. Thankfully the bullet didn't even come close to Kaorin, although the discharge did manage to scare the woman so badly that she actually fell out of the cot.

"Damn it all," Kaorin cursed herself as she painfully got up off of the floor. She reluctantly retrieved the pistol although she abandoned the clip that had strayed beyond the bars. Had the others been there, surely Chihiro would have chewed her out for the accidental discharge. Yomi and Kagura probably would have been angry as well, while Tomo and Osaka probably would have enjoyed it. Kaorin shook her head, dispelling the thoughts. It would seem that no matter what, thoughts and memories of her friends invaded her mind. Kaorin grumbled incoherently as she sat back down on the cot and loaded a fresh clip into the firearm. She then pulled back on the slide, ejecting the spent shell and loading a fresh round into the chamber. The familiar tink sound drew Kaorin's attention to the spent shell as it rolled along the concrete floor. The casing slowly came to a stop next to the bars where something much more significant caught Kaorin's eye.

At first Kaorin could just barely make out the front half of a shoe in the low light. As she looked up, however, she found a short, shotgun-wielding figure cautiously entering the cell's field of view. With an amazing speed, Kaorin brought the pistol up to aim at the figure as she stood up. "Who's there?" she forcefully demanded, firing a warning shot dangerously close to the intruder. The startled figure stumbled backwards and fell down, dropping the shotgun in the process. "Who are you?" Kaorin barked before the dazed intruder had a chance to respond. "Why are you here?"

"Don't shoot!" the figure begged in a clearly feminine voice as she raised her arms in the universal sign of surrender.

Kaorin cautiously kept a bead on her target as she blindly groped for her rifle. As soon as she had a hand on it, Kaorin dropped the pistol to the ground as she brought the rifle to bear. Luckily, this time the pistol didn't misfire as it clattered to the ground. With her rifle in hand, she reached forward and clicked on the attached flashlight. The beam of light revealed the mystery girl's features as she reflexively shielded her eyes from the intrusive light. The intruder turned out to be a girl who appeared to be several years younger than Kaorin. With blonde curls and blue eyes, the younger girl looked anything but Japanese. Before Kaorin had a chance to harass the girl any further, the undeniable sounds of a bug echoed from within the police station.

It didn't take Kaorin to decide on the fate of the girl. As soon as she heard the sounds of a bug she rushed to the cell's door and worked the lock, abandoning her rifle. "Get in!" Kaorin urged as she swung the door open. "The bugs can't get through the bars!"

The interloper didn't hesitate at all as she grabbed her gun and darted into the cell. As soon as she cleared the door, Kaorin quickly relocked it and retrieved her rifle before rapidly backing away from the bars just as the insect barged into the area. The mystery girl let out a small yelp before aiming her weapon at the giant insect as the beast threw itself against the bars and savagely attempted to break through. "Ha! You can't get through, huh?" the mystery girl taunted the insect.

"We're safe from bugs in here," Kaorin reassured as she shifted her focus away from the flailing bug and to her new cellmate. The girl kept her weapon trained on the bug, a fact that gave Kaorin at least a little reassurance as to the intruder's intentions. Completely unsure of what she should do, Kaorin stood there for several seconds watching as the girl kept aiming at the bug. She was only snapped out of her stupor by the sound of the interloper's gun going off. At the sound, Kaorin instinctively brought her rifle to bear as she aimed at the younger girl.

"I got it!" the intruder boasted as she turned to Kaorin with a smile. As soon as she saw Kaorin intently aiming at her, however, the smile quickly faded into a much smaller, uncertain smile that radiated trepidation.

Somehow the girl reminded her of Tomo in that instant, disarming her resolve quickly. Curious as to what the girl had said, Kaorin slowly and reluctantly moved the light from the intruder over to where the giant insect was. What Kaorin saw surprised her to no end. The giant insect was crumpled on the ground, unmoving. These beasts had been able to withstand entire volleys of bullets and still manage to twitch and flail about, and yet somehow this girl had dropped one instantly with a single shell. "It-with one shot?" Kaorin exclaimed, completely befuddled.

Dismissing Kaorin's aiming at her as simply putting the flashlight on her, the interloper allowed her triumphant smile to return. "Pretty good, huh?" she boasted. "That thing was really squirming around so it was pretty hard to line up a good shot." Kaorin's gaze turned back to the girl, and with it, the flashlight's beam. "Um…could you not point that at me?" she nervously requested.

"S-sorry," Kaorin apologized as she lowered her rifle, although keeping the flashlight's beam still close enough to dimly illuminate the blonde girl. The girl then approached Kaorin while still wearing a smile and outstretched a hand towards Kaorin. Kaorin stared at the hand a moment before warily extending her own hand, offering the younger girl an awkward handshake.

"I'm Asami! Nice to meet'cha!" The girl apparently called Asami exuberantly introduced herself.

"Ka-Kaori," Kaorin told the girl, completely and totally bewildered. Minutes ago she had shot at this girl. She was aggressive and unreasonable towards her, and yet Asami seemed to have totally forgiven her. Despite her psychotic behavior, this girl was acting like they had been friends for years!

"Sorry if I startled you," Asami apologized as she scratched the back of her head, although her smile never faded. "I'd be pretty surprised too if I saw anything other than a bug coming knocking on my door!"

Kaorin shook her head. "N-no," she refuted as she offered a little bow, "I should be the one apologizing!"

Asami laughed. "Yeah, you really gave me a scare, too! I really thought you were gonna shoot me there for a second." She took in the sight of the dead bug a moment before continuing. "I'd say we're even, but you did pull me in here to save me. So I guess I owe you one!"

Kaorin's mouth moved, but no words came out. To say that she was flabbergasted would be an understatement. This blonde girl had to either be a saint or had a few screws loose. "I-you don't hate me?" Kaorin exclaimed as soon as she found her voice.

"What do you mean?" Asami replied, a bit puzzled. "I don't even know you. Why would I hate you?"

Kaorin stumbled over to the cot and sat down, completely overwhelmed. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't find any words. Instead she just sighed and buried her head in her hands as her world seemed to spin. Overcome, she flopped down onto her side as the spell peaked.

"Hey! Hey, are you all right?" Asami shouted as she rushed to Kaorin's side. As if on cue, Kaorin's stomach let out a ravenous growl. "Hungry huh?" she rhetorically asked as Kaorin pulled herself back up into a sitting position. "I'd offer you something, but I didn't bring anything with me aside from ammo and some water."

"I have food," Kaorin assured as she motioned to the box of supplies. "I've just been rationing it to make it last long enough."

"Well, I was working on gathering supplies myself," Asami explained as she held up her weapon, "I came here first in hopes of finding shells for my shotgun when I heard your gunshot. Do you know if there's any here?"

Kaorin shook her head. "Aside from that box of supplies the others took everything with them when they left."

"Others?" Asami exclaimed. "How many? Where did they go? When'll they be back?"

Although Kaorin was taken aback by the sudden forcefulness, she did her best to answer the questions. "My old friends from high school…or at least some of them are still my friends," Kaorin relayed before she started counting on her fingers. "There were eight of us in all, so seven of them. They left yesterday for Toudai to research a vaccine for that virus that killed everybody. And as for when they're coming back, I don't know. I'm not entirely sure they'll come back for the likes of me."

As soon as Kaorin mentioned that they were her old friends from high school, Asami became somewhat skeptical, and as she said that they left just one day prior to look for a vaccine, Asami was certain that there was no way that story could be true. As far as Asami knew, there was no need for a vaccine for those who remained. The only thing she could think of was that, having been alone for so long, Kaorin had come somewhat…unhinged. But to Asami that didn't matter in the least. All she cared about was that she wasn't alone anymore. "That's…ahh…" Asami started, unsure of how to proceed. "So there aren't any shotgun shells here?" she changed the subject, unwilling to press the matter of Kaorin's supposed friends.

Kaorin shook her head as she got up and retrieved her rifle, turning off the light. "The only place I know of to get more ammo is too far away to get there on foot, not that I really want to leave the safety here."

"Let's go!" Asami announced with a smile. "I have a scooter. That'll work, right?"

"N-no!" Kaorin refused. "The engine will attract bugs!"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Asami questioned rhetorically. "It's electric," she explained as she flashed a victory sign, although it could hardly be seen in the darkness, "so it won't give us away."

"It-it's still too late to go now," Kaorin dodged. "It's too dangerous."

Asami sighed as her smile faded away. "We still have enough time to go find some food, right? Or is there enough here to last until tomorrow?"

"There's enough!" Kaorin offered, albeit a bit too quickly.

"Then let's eat!" Asami exclaimed. "After all, you're hungry, right?"

"I-but...," Kaorin stammered. After gathering her wits a moment, Kaorin sighed. She turned on the light attached to her rifle again, and then laid it on the bed facing the corner with supplies. It illuminated the supplies as well as a car battery wired to a hotplate. "Go ahead and make whatever," Kaorin relented.

"Great!" Asami announced as she rushed over to the box to browse its contents. "I'm actually pretty hungry too," she admitted as she held a can in front of the light to view it. She actually laughed as she finally noticed that it wasn't a flashlight built into the gun, but rather a normal flashlight taped to the barrel of the gun. "That's pretty clever," Asami praised as she replaced the can before picking up the gun and inspecting it. "How'd you get a gun like this, anyway?" she inquired. "This kind of thing is really illegal, right?"

Although a bit alarmed at the stranger picking up her gun, Kaorin allowed it pass as she took a deep breath to steady herself. "It's a Yakuza gun," she explained.

"Whoa! You're Yakuza?" Asami exclaimed in astonishment.

"No," Kaorin nervously refuted with a shake of her head. "I got the weapon from a Yakuza warehouse. That's where you'll find bullets, too."

"You can probably mow through bugs with one of these," Asami presumed as she inspected the weapon closely.

Kaorin shook her head as she got up and moved to the bars. "Not really," she explained as she tried to make out the bug's corpse in the darkness. "It usually takes a few clips to drop one…How did you kill one with just one bullet?"

"It's called a slug, actually," Asami corrected as she pointed the gun at the corpse in order to shine the light on it. "I just hit it in the weak spot. It was really easy since the bars kept it at bay."

"The weak spot?" Kaorin questioned as she inspected the wound left on the corpse.

"You've survived this long and you still haven't figured out where to shoot them?" Asami admonished as she stepped over next to Kaorin. Using the gun and light as a pointer, she highlighted the entrance wound. "This is the best place to shoot them," Asami explained as she pointed to the hole on top of the bug's head near the back of the head. "You have to shoot the top though; it doesn't seem to work if you shoot them from the front or the side. And you have to aim near the back of the head, too. Shoot it in the middle, and it won't go down." Asami then stepped to the side and highlighted the bug's thorax. "It's hard to shoot them there, though. An easier place to shoot is the side of the middle part here," she explained as she popped off a shot to demonstrate. Kaorin jumped at the shot but managed to maintain her composure and continued to listen. "It won't kill them instantly like shooting the top of the head, but it usually takes the fight right out of them."

"I usually just try to shoot them," Kaorin admitted. "If I ever aimed at anything, it would probably be the face.

Asami shook her head despite the darkness. "That doesn't work very well unless maybe you shoot out all of their hundreds of eyes."

"I didn't know that," Kaorin confessed as she stared at the corpse in astonishment. "You'll need to explain that to everyone when they get back."

Asami gave Kaorin a quizzical look but refrained from saying anything. "Enough distractions," she dismissed as she marched back over to the box and set up the light again. "I'm starving!"

After staring at the carcass a bit longer, Kaorin trudged back over to the cot and sat back down. After a few moments of hearing nothing but the sounds of Asami rummaging through her supplies, Kaorin felt as though she had to say something to the relative stranger she was stuck sharing a cell with. "S-so, have you been alone all this time?" Kaorin prodded as she chanced a glance at the blonde girl.

She faltered slightly in her actions. "No," Asami replied. "One of my older brother's friends survived the plague, too, but back when the big ones showed up, we got caught off guard…and I-I couldn't save him."

"I-I'm sorry," Kaorin offered. "I've seen a lot of death, too."

"It happens, yanno," Asami deflected. "Everyone has to go some time. That's why we have to enjoy what we have now, right? After all, we might not live to see tomorrow, so we gotta enjoy today."

Kaorin couldn't help but let a ghost of a smile touch her lips. "It's a lot easier said than done."

Asami laughed at the comment. "Yeah, but not today!" she jovially claimed. "It's not every day that you find someone else that's survived this long! If there was more food here, I'd say we have a feast to celebrate!"

"Don't-don't forget to leave enough for dinner, too," Kaorin reminded the eager blonde.

"Hey!" Asami suddenly exclaimed just after turning on the hotplate. "After we eat, let's go bug hunting!"

"Wh-wh-what?" Kaorin stammered. "Are you insane? We have to stay here where it's safe!"

"But just sitting around is boring," Asami complained. "And besides that, I really wanna try out that gun of yours. You have enough bullets for it, right?"

"That's not the point!" Kaorin argued as she stood up. "It's way too dangerous to go out and actually look for bugs! It's crazy!"

"Yeah," Asami agreed, "but it's fun, too! Hunting something that actually hunts you as well... It's the ultimate game!"

Kaorin just stared blankly at the strange girl. "You're totally crazy, aren't you?" she asked in a deadpan tone.

"It's good to be a little crazy," Asami insisted. "It keeps you from being boring!"

"I give up," Kaorin relented as she flopped back down onto the cot. "Go out and get yourself killed if that's what you really want. I'm going to stay here where it's safe."

"You must be kidding," Asami berated as she turned about and shuffled in the box to look for utensils to cook with. "I have no desire to die; I just want to live!" the blonde girl boisterously claimed as she retrieved a large cooking spoon from the box. "You can't call being boxed up all day in fear 'living', can you?"

Kaorin mumbled an incoherent response as she looked away from the blonde, unwilling to admit to her faults. Gathering her wits over a few seconds, she finally gave Asami a straight answer. "Isn't it better to be cautious?" Kaorin argued. "You'll live longer that way…probably."

"Everybody's gotta go sometime," Asami acknowledged as she dumped the contents of a can into a pan on the hotplate. "You might live longer being safe yet miserable in this cage, but personally, I'd rather die enjoying myself to the fullest. Even if that means I'll die sooner."

"How, with that attitude, have you survived this long?" Kaorin seriously inquired.

Asami laughed in response. "Just lucky, I guess," she dismissed. "So how about it? Have I convinced you to go bug hunting with me? I promise you won't regret it!"

"I refuse," Kaorin sternly replied.

"Well, then," the blonde responded as she motioned to Kaorin's rifle, "can I at least take this baby out for a little while?"

"No!" Kaorin refused as she snatched the weapon up.

"Hey! I can't see!" Asami protested as the light moved away from the hotplate.

Kaorin reluctantly replaced the rifle. "S-sorry," she meekly offered, "but you still can't take it."

"Why not?" Asami argued, "You're not gonna use it just sitting in here all day. I wanna go have fun!"

"What if you die while you're out there?" Kaorin pointed out. "Then I wouldn't have a gun anymore and you…you'd be dead! Doesn't that bother you?"

"Not at all!" the hyperactive blonde retorted. "Besides, I've gone bug hunting a hundred times, and nothing bad's ever happened!"

"A-a hundred times?" Kaorin asked in disbelief.

"Yeah! It's usually really fun!" Asami assured. "You really should come!"

Kaorin stared at the dead giant for a moment as she mulled it over. If this obnoxious girl could go a hundred times and not get hurt, then maybe she had some sort of secret to surviving. After all, Asami did seem to know more about the bugs than the entirety of Kaorin's group. "If-if you show me how to keep safe from the bugs, I'll go," Kaorin decided. "But you have to teach me how to do it!"

"Deal!" Asami happily exclaimed, "I'll show you my secret technique!"

-Just after lunch-

As promised, the duo set out on their bug hunt with Asami excitedly leading the way out of the station with Kaorin's rifle in hand. Kaorin, on the other hand, cautiously exited into the sunlight with more than a little trepidation as she clutched Asami's shotgun tightly. "You're way too slow!" Asami complained as she watched Kaorin exit the building. "You'll have to work hard to keep up!"

"O-okay," Kaorin meekly offered as she stared at the short blonde. It was her first time seeing the girl in the light of day. Despite the heat of summer, Asami sported a light, long-sleeved T-shirt, tan cargo pants, and a simple pair of tennis shoes. More surprising was the girl's figure. Kaorin knew at first glance that she had to be younger than her, but out in the sunlight it appeared as though this girl was barely a teenager, if that. She didn't even stand as tall as Kaorin's shoulders, and she didn't have any figure to speak of. "Hey," Kaorin asked as the small blonde entertained herself by sliding down the railing on the stairs, running back up, and repeating, "How old are you?"

"Seventeen!" Asami boisterously announced as she ceased her antics. "Or really close to that. I'm not really sure 'cause I was born around this time of year." Asami amusedly watched Kaorin's jaw drop in astonishment. "I get that a lot!" the short girl informed Kaorin. "I haven't grown a single centimeter since I was eight 'cause I got hit by a car," she explained with her smile never fading. "But that's okay with me. I just wish that these would grow," Asami announced as she groped her own chest.

"You-you got hit by a car and stopped growing?" Kaorin babbled out before she could restrain herself.

"Yeah, I actually died for a whole minute!" she boasted as she once again went down the stairs by sliding down the handrail. She then pointed to a scooter parked at the curb and turned to Kaorin with a smile. "That's my scooter, but I think we should walk," Asami insisted, completely changing the subject as she started to walk off in a seemingly random direction.

Due to the jovial nature of the strange girl, Kaorin couldn't judge whether or not the sudden subject change was to steer things away from the sensitive issue. Either way, Kaorin decided not to press her luck as she trailed after Asami. Kaorin actually got caught up in her thoughts and didn't even seem to worry about their trek until Asami came to an abrupt stop in front of a dark, ominous alley. "I-do you really plan to go through there?" Kaorin stammered.

"Yeah, it's the fastest way, after all!" she enthusiastically informed Kaorin. She then drew in a deep breath, and, cupping her hands around her mouth, screamed at the top of her lungs into the alley, "Yahoo!"

Alarmed, Kaorin raised the shotgun and rapidly looked about in all directions. "What are you doing?"

"Bugs are dumb," Asami claimed as she stared into the alley with the aid of the flashlight. "If there were any bugs skulking in there, they would have come out when I yelled," she explained as she fearlessly strolled into the alley.

"This is crazy!" Kaorin accused as she opted to stay in the sunlight. "You're crazy!"

"I know!" Asami shamelessly affirmed. "It's really fun, huh?"

"This…this is your secret technique?" Kaorin wailed, "I want to go back!"

"Hurry up!" Asami ordered as she noticed Kaorin faltering. "You'll miss all the fun!"

Kaorin watched in muted horror as Asami retreated into the alley. Unwilling to follow the girl into certain danger, Kaorin backed away and considered going back to the police station. Just as Kaorin turned and started to retreat towards the station, the unmistakable sound of gunfire reached her ears. Without a second thought, Kaorin spun around and darted back to the alley. Looking down the alley, however, she found no signs of her diminutive companion. The gunfire, it would seem, was coming from all the way on the other side of the alley. Kaorin took several deep breaths as she summoned her courage before sprinting through the darkness to the other side. As soon as she made it back into the light she found Asami in the middle of the street, taunting a severely wounded insect.

Asami laughed as she noticed Kaorin finally arrive. "I told you that if you didn't keep up you'd miss all the fun!" The flailing insect tried in vain to crawl after the spunky blonde, but just as it approached, she clambered onto a car and out of the beast's reach. Then, shouting a battle cry, the crazed girl jumped down onto the bug! The bug instantly tried to throw the girl off itself, but the badly hurt critter couldn't muster the energy. Asami then placed the muzzle of the rifle against the bug's head and fired a single shot, causing the insect to collapse completely. The small girl laughed again as she patted the dead bug's head. "Now this is a trophy!" She then dismounted the bug as she exchanged clips in her weapon.

"You-you're completely insane!" Kaorin berated. "You could have been killed! I nearly shot you!"

Asami just laughed at the comment. "Yanno, I don't think I've ever been shot before," she stupidly informed Kaorin. "Now _that_ would be a scar I could brag about!" Asami then looked about herself a moment before continuing. "Where would a good place be?" she wondered aloud. "Do you think it'd kill me if you shot me in the stomach?"

Kaorin stared at the girl, completely dumbfounded. "You want me to shoot you?" she practically screamed at the girl.

"Yeah!" Asami excitedly replied. "It'd be really cool! Just don't kill me, okay?"

"I-I'm not going to shoot you!" Kaorin refused.

"Ah," Asami started as the realization hit her, "you have a good point. I don't have a whole lot of shells left for that thing." She then awkwardly positioned the assault rifle so that the muzzle was against her stomach.

"Don't!" Kaorin pleaded as she rushed to the girl and tackled her to the ground before she could pull the trigger.

Asami didn't miss a beat as she abandoned the rifle and started struggling with Kaorin. "So you wanna wrestle, huh?" she asked rhetorically as she tried to pin Kaorin's shoulders. "I might be small, but I have a lot of practice at this sort of thing!"

Kaorin managed to slip free of the overly rambunctious girl and jumped away from her holding the shotgun in one hand and the rifle in the other. "Now," Kaorin choked out as she tried to catch her breath, "I am not going to shoot you, and you are not going to shoot yourself. Understood?"

"Why not?" Asami demanded as she jumped to her feet, completely forgetting about her would-be wrestling match. "It'd be a really cool scar!"

"It'd kill you!" Kaorin retorted.

Asami blinked a couple of times before glancing down at her own torso. "You really think so?" she seriously inquired before pointing a few centimeters left of her bellybutton. "Even if you shot me over here in the side?"

"Yes!" Kaorin exasperatedly exclaimed.

The crazed girl then glanced about her body again before extending her left hand. "If you shot me in the hand, I wouldn't die, right?" Asami asked rhetorically. "Shoot my hand!"

"No!" Kaorin refused. "I'm not shooting you anywhere with any gun at any time!"

"Why not?" Asami repeated her previous outburst. "There's no way it'll kill me if you shoot my hand!"

"Are you even thinking at all?" Kaorin demanded. "If you get shot anywhere, you'll be incapacitated for weeks! And I'm not dragging you back to the police station and taking care of you for weeks, assuming you'd even live that long!"

Asami looked thoughtful for a moment as she seemed to closely examine her left hand. "You're right," she mumbled. "If I get shot, there's no way I'll be able to play anymore." She then looked to Kaorin with an apologetic smile. "Forget I said anything. Please don't shoot me."

Kaorin just slowly shook her head as she tried to get a handle on things. This girl's train of thought was more than a little skewed. But at least it seemed as though she could be reasoned with. Kaorin reluctantly extended the rifle towards Asami. "You promise you won't shoot yourself?" Kaorin asked.

"Are you stupid?" Asami asked rhetorically as she snatched the gun. "I'd have to be retarded to shoot myself!"

"And-and don't shoot me either!" Kaorin demanded as she realized that she may have just made a huge mistake in relinquishing the firearm.

"You're not a bug!" Asami dumbly informed Kaorin. "Why would I shoot you?"

"I-uh…just wanted to be clear that I'm perfectly fine without having any scars," Kaorin pleaded, trying to at least make sense in the strange girl's warped mind.

Asami laughed at the comment. "You're such a bore, Kaori! Scars are proof that you've had a ton of fun in life!" She then set the rifle aside and removed her backpack before taking off her shirt to reveal scars all over her arms and torso as well as showing that she wasn't wearing anything underneath the shirt. "See? I've had lots and lots of fun!"

Appalled at both the disfiguring scars and Asami's lack of modesty, Kaorin was completely stupefied. After stammering out incomprehensible gibberish for a few seconds, she was able to blurt out what was at the forefront of her mind. "Don't… I... Put your shirt back on!"

"No way," Asami flatly refused as she packed her shirt away into her pack before shouldering the bag. "It's too hot to wear it." She then picked up the rifle before jumping on top of the car again. "It's strange," Asami commented as she glanced about. "Usually its friends would've shown up by now."

Kaorin's mind reeled again, this time in disbelief that this psycho girl's antics had managed to make her almost completely forget the situation. "I-you killed your bug!" Kaorin insisted, "Let's go back now! And put your shirt on!"

"That wasn't part of our hunt!" Asami dismissed with a wave of her hand. "That was the bug's hunt. Let's hope ours doesn't end the same way!"

"I don't care whose hunt it was!" Kaorin quickly refuted. "You got to try out the gun. Now let's get back to where it's safe!"

"But I haven't shown you my secret technique yet!" Asami argued as she jumped off of the car and pointed with the rifle. "There is a subway station a few blocks down from here. We should get a bit closer to it and find a good spot to hunt from."

Kaorin shook her head. "I won't go," she refused. "If you want to show me some psychotic technique, then go ahead and show it, but we're going back to the station."

"I don't care what you say!" Asami said with rebellion evident in her voice as she jumped off of the car and started off in the direction she indicated earlier. "I've already made up my mind. I'm going hunting." She then pointedly looked back at Kaorin. "You can make your own decision: come with me, or go home alone."

"No!" Kaorin refuted, "No, no, no! I'm older than you; that means I call the shots! We're going back!"

Asami quickly turned around to face Kaorin. "Make me!" she challenged as she pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tongue at Kaorin. The tiny blonde then turned and began to sprint away from Kaorin.

"Get back here, you brat!" Kaorin shouted as she started after the overly-energetic girl. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

Asami led Kaorin through the rubble of the streets. Jumping over and around cars and other debris, the crazed blonde came to a dead end as she ran into a building. Asami then put her back to the wall and awaited Kaorin's arrival with a huge grin. "That was fun, huh?" she shouted as a furious Kaorin approached.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kaorin scolded the still-smiling girl.

"We're here!" Asami announced as she pointed to the building behind her. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it? Having fun won't kill you, yanno!"

Kaorin opened her mouth to yell at the girl, but no words came. She took several deep breaths as she glared daggers at the idiosyncratic girl. "Do you have any idea how stupid and dangerous that was? That this whole fiasco is?" Kaorin demanded as soon as she had put her thoughts in order. "You could've been killed!"

"Killed by what?" Asami challenged with a smirk. "I think the real question is do _you_ know how dangerous this all is? 'Cause you obviously don't!"

"What?" Kaorin angrily retorted. "This is stupidly dangerous!" she insisted, "We're in constant danger out here on the streets!"

"Wrong!" Asami countered as she stuck her tongue out at Kaorin again. "We aren't in any danger in the sunlight for a good two or three blocks around where we killed the bug," she seriously informed Kaorin as she pointed to where the corpse was, almost a block away from their current position. "The gunfire would've brought any bugs that close to us. Since none came, that means that this particular area doesn't have any other big bugs crawling around!" Asami then motioned to the building again. "There might be small ones inside here, but no big ones nearby. I wouldn't shoot unless you have to, though. We've moved close enough to the subway station to draw attention from there."

Kaorin grabbed Asami's backpack as she started towards the building's door. "We're done," she sternly informed the tiny teen. "You've had your fun. Now let's go back where it's safe."

"No way!" Asami whined as she tried in vain to wiggle free of Kaorin's grasp. "I haven't showed you my secret technique or anything!"

"You're still babbling about that?" Kaorin scolded in a deadpan tone. "I don't even believe you have a technique."

"I'll prove it!" Asami argued as she continued to try to free herself.

Kaorin reluctantly released the squirming girl. "Show me, and then we leave," she relented.

"All right!" the energetic teen shouted as she set the rifle aside before pulling a lighter out of a pocket, and a pack of cigarettes out of the other.

Kaorin watched in disbelief as the topless girl put a cigarette in her mouth and lit it. "Hey, kids shouldn't smoke!" she scolded.

"I'm seventeen…ish," Asami reminded Kaorin as she replaced the lighter and cigarettes before picking the rifle back up, "and I'm not smoking it." She then reached into a bulging side pocket on her cargo pants and retrieved a small object with a green wick sticking out of it. "Watch!" Asami exclaimed as she brought the wick to the tip of the cigarette, causing it to emit a shower of sparks as it started burning down. As soon as the firework was lit, Asami dashed to the door, burst it open, and tossed the small object inside just before going in herself.

"Damn it, Asami!" Kaorin shouted as she realized she had been duped. Instead of finding the interior of the building dark, the inside flashed brightly with a strobe-like effect generated from the firework.

"Keep watching!" Asami informed Kaorin as she lit a new one on her cigarette and threw it near the already burning firework as it started to fizzle out. "Here one comes!" she announced as she pointed to a smaller bug as it crawled in from the floor above. Without hesitation, Kaorin blindly opened fire on the insect. "Hey! Don't waste shells!" Asami scolded as she rushed over to grab the gun from Kaorin.

"Don't stop me!" Kaorin fought as she struggled with Asami.

"Just watch for a second!" Asami ordered as she rushed to light another firework. Tossing it again near the dying firework, it continued to illuminate the entire area with a bright strobe. The charging insect stopped short of the two girls, instead stopping at the flashing firecracker. Completely ignoring the women, it tried in vain to attack the flashing light. "I told you before," Asami explained as she took careful aim, "bugs are dumb." With a single well placed shot, Asami managed to kill the smaller bug. As soon as the bug was down, the tiny blonde rushed off before Kaorin could shake her befuddlement.

As soon as she recovered, Kaorin dashed after Asami once again. "Stop running off!" Five flights of stairs later, Kaorin caught up to Asami on the building's roof.

The tiny teen had already taken up a marksman's stance at the corner of the roof, which overlooked an intersection. "It looks like the shooting didn't attract anything after all," Asami informed Kaorin as soon as the exhausted woman stepped out into the sunlight.

Kaorin glared daggers at the blonde. "You! I'm going to put a damned leash on you!" the frustrated woman yelled as she stormed towards Asami.

"I prefer to be the one holding the leash," Asami countered in a sultry voice, "if it's all the same to you."

"That-that's not what I meant!" a flustered Kaorin argued as she tried to dispel unwanted images from her mind.

Before Kaorin had a chance to gather her scattered wits, Asami produced a different kind of firecracker from a different pocket. Once again using the cigarette as a lighter, she tossed the lit firework over the side of the building. This firework simply exploded with a bang. "I use these as bait," Asami explained as she lit another and tossed it over. "The noise should attract them soon enough."

"Stop it!" Kaorin ordered as she snatched the cigarette out of the blonde's mouth and threw it off of the building. "I already told you this was already going too far! We're going back now and the last thing we need is more bugs!"

"Too late!" Asami hissed as she scrambled to light another cigarette. As soon as it was lit, she grabbed another flashing firework. "Get down," the tiny blonde ordered as she pulled Kaorin down beside her. "They rely on sight as much as we do. So as long as it doesn't spot you, then you can take your time killing it." Asami then set the small firework down on the ledge and peeked over to spy where the giant insect had moved to. It didn't take her long to get a bead on it. "If you're good, a single shot can take them down," she claimed as she aimed for the insect's weak spot. Curiosity getting the better of her, Kaorin also peeked over the ledge and found the insect lurking about. After a few seconds, the insect paused, and in that moment, Asami popped off a single shot. While the bullet scored a hit to the giant insect's head, it didn't go down. "I missed!" Asami blurted aloud, drawing the insect's attention right to them. Kaorin immediately opened fire while Asami picked up the flashing firework, lit it, and dropped it over the side of the building. In spite of Kaorin opening fire on the insect, as soon as the firecracker started flashing the insect changed course and, just like the last one, tried to attack the flashing light. "Aim for the sweet spot at the back of the head!" Asami cheered as Kaorin continued to shoot the distracted insect. Two shells later, Kaorin managed to hit the right spot and the giant insect collapsed instantly. While Kaorin stared dumbfounded at the insect, Asami continued to cheer her on. "Way to go!" she praised. "See? Wasn't that fun?"

"That was stupid, scary, and dangerous!" Kaorin hotly retorted.

"And fun!" Asami exclaimed. "Let's see if another one shows up!"

Alarmed at the prospect, Kaorin immediately crouched back down behind the lip of the roof. "Give me some of those fireworks!" Kaorin hissed as she did her best to stay out of sight of any bugs.

"Sure," Asami agreed as she dumped several out of her pocket before tossing Kaorin the cigarettes and lighter. "You need the cigarette to keep a hand free so you don't have to put your gun down every time you light one," she informed Kaorin as she scanned the intersection for more insects. "You have to suck on the cigarette when you touch the wick to it to light it though. Just don't breathe it in unless you want to."

"How is it that you keep switching back and forth between serious and downright crazy?" Kaorin hissed as she tried to light the cigarette with shaky hands.

"I'm not crazy," Asami argued. "I'm just…eccentric." The tiny blonde then lit another exploding firecracker and tossed it over.

"Stop that!" Kaorin scolded as she pocketed the flashing fireworks. "Do you want more to come?"

Asami rolled her eyes at Kaorin as she tossed another firecracker over. "Duh!" she mocked. "That's why we're here, isn't it?"

"No!" Kaorin refuted, "That's why you're here! I've been trying to get you back to the station this entire time!"

"We can go back when the sun starts going down," Asami reasoned as she kept an eye out for new arrivals. "We should spend every minute of sunlight that we can get having fun!"

"Having fun is fine," Kaorin hissed, "but anything outside the safety of the jail cells is suicide!"

Asami laughed at the comment. "You _must_ be joking!" she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "There's not a whole lot of fun you can have being all cooped up in a jail cell like that. That's why it's a punishment for people who've been bad!"

"But you can do whatever you want in there now," Kaorin argued as she handed the cigarettes and lighter back to Asami while still doing her best to hide. "And it's _safe_ there!"

"It's safe everywhere!" Asami exuberantly claimed. "Just so long as you know what you're doing! Oh!" she exclaimed after half a second of thought. "Except for the subway stations. It's never safe to go near there!"

"You-you keep mentioning subway stations," Kaorin pointed out. "What's wrong with them?"

"You really don't know anything, do ya?" Asami berated as she produced another exploding firecracker. "The subway tunnels are where all of the bugs live," the small blonde explained as she lit the firework and tossed it over. "The closer you get to a station, the more bugs you run into! This distance is about perfect for hunting, though."

"S-stop throwing those!" Kaorin admonished.

Asami didn't respond right away as she stared down over the ledge. "Hmmm, I think you're right." She then turned to Kaorin with a nervous smile. "We should probably leave."

"Finally!" Kaorin exclaimed as she cautiously got to her feet and started for the door.

"That's probably not a good idea!" the topless blonde warned as Kaorin opened the door, allowing a pillar of smoke to billow out. "I think the fireworks might have caught the building on fire," Asami sheepishly admitted as Kaorin reeled back from the oppressing smoke. "We're probably going to have to jump," Asami noted as she looked down to the pavement, five stories below.

"No way!" Kaorin wailed as she stared hopelessly into the smoke-filled stairway.

"Let's find a way!" Asami loudly announced as she circled the building looking for a better option. "I found the fire escape!" she informed Kaorin after a couple of seconds.

Kaorin rushed over to find the dilapidated fire escape that only descended two floors before it fell away into rubble. She shook her head. "No, no, no!" Kaorin refused, "There has to be another way!"

"Not unless you can fly!" Asami announced as she jumped onto the frail walkway a story below with reckless abandon. "Come on!" the small blonde urged as she noticed Kaorin still hesitating. "We gotta get off this thing before we're barbequed!"

Kaorin shook her head. "I-I can't! It's too dangerous!"

"It's more dangerous to stay up there!" the tiny teen reasoned as she set the rifle aside. "I'll catch you if that makes you feel better!"

"I'd crush you!" Kaorin admonished the broken logic as she worked up the courage to get up on the lip and swung her legs over. "Here, catch this!" she shouted as she tossed the shotgun down.

Asami barely caught the firearm as it nearly missed the fire escape entirely. "Careful!" the boisterous blonde scolded, "This shotgun was my dad's!"

"I doubt a five story fall would hurt it as bad as it'd hurt me!" Kaorin quipped as she twisted around and lowered herself off of the roof before letting herself fall the rest of the way down to the fire escape. As soon as she hit the frail structure, it let out a groan at the added weight. The entire fire escape then shifted, nearly causing Kaorin to fall off. As she caught herself on the railing, the cigarette fell from her lips. Kaorin watched in muted horror as the cigarette tumbled over and over before bouncing on the ground five stories below. Succumbing to vertigo, Kaorin collapsed to her knees as she clung tenaciously to the railing.

"What are you waiting for?" Asami scolded as she looked up to Kaorin from a story below. "Grab your gun and let's go!"

Summoning her courage, Kaorin pried her eyes away from the ground and glanced about for her rifle. Since the shifting from Kaorin's weight, the gun had nearly fallen off only to be trapped by the railing right next to Kaorin. It took the panicked girl a few moments to will her hand to release the railing and grab the gun. Just as soon as she clutched the weapon, the fire escape pulled further away from the side of the building. That shift caused Kaorin to let out a shriek and release the rifle as she grabbed onto the railing again, allowing the gun to fall to the ground. "I-I can't do this!" Kaorin wailed as she held onto the deteriorating fire escape for dear life.

"Come on!" Asami encouraged, "If you don't, you'll just burn to death here pretty soon any way!"

At the mentioning of the fire, Kaorin looked to the window the escape led to. Although there were no flames present, there was more than enough smoke pouring out of the broken window to rule out going through the building. Unable to make a decision, Kaorin simply steadfastly held onto the railing as she began to weep in despair.

"Damn it," Asami bitterly thought as she watched Kaorin. Taking careful aim, the blonde girl fired her shotgun dangerously close to Kaorin.

The sound of the gunshot made Kaorin jump up and away as she desperately tried groped for her sidearm. "A bug?" Kaorin asked in a panic as she managed to pull her pistol out.

"Kaori!" Asami stated in a stern voice. "Listen to me. You have to come down here right now! You're going to die if you don't!" As if to emphasize Asami's words, the fire escape leaned out a bit more. "Coming down here is your only chance! Just take it and try not to think about anything else!"

Acting on Asami's words, Kaorin found enough courage to start down the stairs. After a few steps the fragile structure failed to maintain Kaorin's weight. The flight of stairs she was on bowed in on itself and snapped in two, sending Kaorin crashing down to the fourth floor and metal scraps raining down after her. Although it broke her fall, the extra jolting pried the fire escape even farther away from the wall. Pressured beyond its limits, the fire escape finally started to completely fall away from the building. It broke free of its bindings starting at its highest point and leaned all the way out into the alley. The bulky structure slammed into the building across the alley and managed to slowly grind to a halt, leaving the two girls clinging to the mangled structure as it threatened to collapse into a heap at any moment.

Asami didn't miss a beat as she quickly descended the maze of mangled metal to the lowest point she could find. "It's now or never!" she shouted as she quickly scanned about for signs of Kaorin. "If we don't get clear, we'll be crushed!" After issuing the warning, the blonde girl hung down off of the remains of the fire escape before dropping down to the ground. Thankfully, she managed to survive the two story fall intact. As soon as she had recovered, Asami dashed clear of the overhanging heap.

Thanks to the twisted and mangled metal, Kaorin had nowhere to go once the structure had settled into its precarious perch. With a solid sheet of metal beneath her and mangled flights of stairs blocking her in against the adjacent building, Kaorin might as well have been in a metal cage suspended three stories up. "I'm stuck!" Kaorin wailed as she desperately tried to find a way out of the deathtrap. "Help me!"

Back on the ground, Asami was quickly regretting jumping off. Now she had no way to help Kaorin at all. "Just-just hang on!" she encouraged as she tried to figure out a way to get back up to Kaorin. "If you find a way out, take it!" she shouted as she rushed out of the alley.

"Don't leave me!" Kaorin begged as she spied Asami running off through the twisted debris. The small blonde didn't seem to respond as she disappeared from Kaorin's sight. In desperation, Kaorin tried to force some of the gnarled metal aside to find a way out. The action proved to be counterproductive as the sounds of straining and breaking metal seemed to amplify anytime Kaorin moved at all. Left with no alternative, Kaorin just tried to stand as still as possible. "Help me!" she emotionally screamed at the top of her lungs as she began to cry. Despite Kaorin's best efforts to be still, the fire escape continued its slow collapse. It slowly ground down the side of the wall at a snail's pace as the sounds of steel groaning and breaking grew louder. After several antagonizing seconds, the fire escape finally slipped a couple of meters all at once and gave a great lurch, throwing Kaorin off of her feet. She was thrown against the building hard enough to make her consciousness swim.

"Take my hand!"

Acting more on instinct than thought, Kaorin took the offered hand without hesitation. She felt herself being pulled before dropping onto a much more stable surface. After regaining her wits, Kaorin found that she was inside a building with a remorseful looking Asami standing above her. "You…saved me?" Kaorin mumbled as she held her aching head.

Asami motioned to the window, which showed the remaining rubble as it fell apart and finally collapsed all at once. The force of the steel hitting the ground had enough strength for the duo to feel the impact. "Looks like I got to you just in time," Asami somberly noted. She then offered Kaorin a hand and helped pull the dazed girl to her feet. "I'm sorry," she sheepishly apologized once Kaorin was up. "I was just so excited to have someone to play with that all I wanted to do was have fun. But it looks like I was being selfish, and I put us both in danger." Asami then bowed deeply to Kaorin. "So I'm really sorry! Please forgive me!"

"Let's-let's just go back to the police station," Kaorin offered as she drew an arm across her face to wipe away her tears.

"Okay!" Asami said with a smile. "This way!" she ordered as she began to lead the way out of the building.

* * *

A/N: It's a long chapter, though I do hope it didn't drag on. The main thing to take away here is the info our new heroine has to offer. I should probably clarify that, obviously, not all bugs live in the subways. After all the library is a nest, as was Chihiro's apartment. The vast majority are in the subways though.


	26. Moving Forward

A/N: This chapter is way overdue. I think the last time I updated this story there was snow on the ground! I finally shook off my writer's block and got it done. The fact that this is the longest chapter to date is of little solace considering how late it is, but I will keep my word that I shall see this story through to the end!

* * *

-Shortly before noon at Toudai research hospital-

"A child?" Chihiro exclaimed as the doors to the hospital opened, revealing only a boy. It only took Chihiro a split-second to determine him as a non-threat and looked beyond him into the darkness of the building for any signs of movement to give away a much more serious threat. Despite not actually looking at the boy as she stayed alert, Chihiro put on a fake smile. "Who are you?" she asked as soothingly as she could muster. "Are you alone?"

"Hi-Hiro," the boy nervously stammered. "My name's Hiro!"

"Okay, Hiro," Chihiro continued with as innocuous a tone as possible, "Are you here by yourself, or are there others here?"

"O-Ojiisan is here," the boy claimed as he nervously looked at the three women standing out in front of him. "Everyone else disappeared."

"All right," Chihiro continued as she chose her words carefully, "Can you take us to Ojiisan? We need to get inside where it's safe, okay?"

The boy shook his head. "I-I'm not supposed to let any strangers in," he claimed as he instinctively took a step back.

Chiyo spoke up before Chihiro had a chance. "It's really dangerous out here," she pleaded. "We just killed a bunch of bugs and others are probably going to come soon. If you don't let us in, we could all die!"

After a bit of inner conflict, Hiro nodded. "You can come in, but if Ojiisan doesn't want you here then you have to leave!"

Chihiro nodded to Yomi and Tomo, summoning them to come as she, Chiyo, and Osaka followed the boy into the building. Once all six of them were inside, Chihiro and the boy quickly worked to seal the doors. As soon as the door was locked and barred, the women worked to turn all of their flashlights on to lighten up the dark hallways. "Can you lead us to Ojiisan?" Chihiro sweetly asked as she and the other girls shined their lights about, getting a feel for the place and making sure there weren't any bugs to be found.

"We've been staying in the pharmacy," Hiro explained as he pointed down the hall. "It's this way." Leading the women around a few twists and turns, down a flight of stairs, and then down a couple of more hallways, Hiro led the group to a heavy door with a keycard lock. He then pulled a card out of his pocket, swiped it in the door, and punched a few keys. The door made an audible 'click' before he turned the handle, opening into a relatively brightly lit room.

"The lights are workin'," Osaka pointed out the obvious as she stared up.

"The door was electronic, too," Chiyo added.

The boy didn't pay the women any mind as he purposefully ran through the room. "Ojiisan! We have guests!"

Chihiro quickly followed after the boy along with Yomi while the rest of the group lagged behind. The girls found the man dubbed 'Ojiisan' sitting at a working computer. With powder white hair and deep wrinkles, this bespectacled man had to be at least 70. "I-what's the meaning of this?" he demanded as he turned to find the heavily armed group of women.

"We're not here to cause any trouble," Chihiro quickly asserted.

"We need to use the facilities here!" Yomi added a split second later.

"Do you have sick and injured?" the old man worriedly responded to Yomi's sense of urgency.

Chihiro shook her head. "It's complicated," she dismissed, "but we don't have anyone that's in serious danger."

The old man struggled to his feet as he carefully looked the girls over. Each of them seemed to be armed to teeth and none of them looked all that friendly. "There is plenty of time to explain," he offered, hoping to keep the foreboding women calm, "so long as you ladies keep it civil."

"Well, first thing is first," Chihiro asserted. "I'm afraid we will have to impose on you to let us stay here. What we need to do will probably take years."

"Years?" Ojiisan repeated. "Just what is it that you need that will take so long?"

"We have to make a vaccine for that virus that wiped everyone out," Chihiro explained as she motioned towards Chiyo. "This girl's a bonafide genius. We're hoping she'll be able to do it."

Ojiisan shook his head in confusion. "It's far too late for that," he contended, "Everyone that's left has survived it."

"Like I said, it's a long story," Chihiro dismissed. "The long and the short of it is we need to stay here a long time. You'll let us stay, right?"

"We have more space than we know what to do with," the old man admitted although it didn't seem like he had much of a choice other than to be hospitable. After all, what could an old man and a young boy do against a squad of well-armed women? "We're down to the bare bones on food and water, though."

"That's not a problem," Chihiro assured with a smile, "We brought a truckload with us."

Hiro perked up at the statement. "You have food? Can I have some?"

"Are you hungry?" Chiyo empathetically asked with a smile.

The boy gave an enthusiastic nod. "Yeah!"

Chiyo looked up to Chihiro, who nodded in response. "We'll go ahead and get everything in here, then," Chihiro announced. "Chiyo you stay here and explain things to Ojiisan, okay?"

"Sure!" Chiyo happily agreed with a nod.

"I wanna stay, too!" Tomo butted in. "I shouldn't be carrying anything, anyway."

"You have two eyes that can keep watch while we carry everything," Chihiro retorted as the group started its retreat. "If we hurry, we might be able to get everything in here without having to deal with anymore bugs." Although Tomo continued to protest, she followed after the others.

"Um… where to start," Chiyo faltered as soon as she was alone with Ojiisan and Hiro.

The old man offered her a genuine smile as he sat back down at the desk. "Perhaps you should start with your name," he offered, more than a little happy that, despite their appearances, these women seemed to be quite friendly.

"Ah! How terribly rude of me!" Chiyo apologized with a bow. "My name is Chiyo Mihama."

"Well, Chiyo, your friend with the scar said that you would explain exactly what it is your group needs here?" he prodded.

"It's kind of a long story…" Chiyo started as she tried to think back to where everything began.

-At about that time at an abandoned warehouse-

"Wai! It's like Christmas!" Asami boisterously shouted as she literally jumped into a crate of weapons. "Just look at this stuff!" she announced as she grabbed a random firearm and discharged its entire clip into the ceiling.

"Cut that out!" Kaorin hissed as she began setting up a propane burner. "Do you want to attract a bunch of bugs?"

"Yeah!" Asami instantly replied as she abandoned the empty gun for a different one. "It'd be so fun to kill 'em with all this stuff!"

Kaorin growled as she kicked herself. Even though it was only a day, Kaorin should know better than to ask Asami any stupid questions. The maniac always has the most ridiculous answers. "It must be great to be so carefree," Kaorin lamented. "I can't believe you're still alive with that attitude of yours."

"It's awesome! You should try it!" Asami cheered as she gave Kaorin a thumbs up. "You shouldn't be so serious all the time! After all, no one gets out of life alive, so enjoy it while you can!"

"I don't think that's how the saying goes," Kaorin pointed out as she rifled through many of the supplies they had picked up before coming here before deciding on what to cook.

"Saying?" Asami cluelessly replied as she finally found slugs for her shotgun. "Found it!" she announced as she quickly loaded the firearm and randomly shot it to prove that she had discovered the ammunition.

"Good for you, now stop shooting! I told you before to stop that!" Kaorin hissed. "What am I, your mother?" she grumbled under her breath

"You're such a stick in the mud," Asami accused.

"And you are clinically insane," Kaorin retorted. Not hearing a response, Kaorin looked over to find Asami engrossed in the various weapons. _Why can't she be this quiet all the time?_ Kaorin mentally lamented as she did her best to enjoy the silence. As she focused on the food and relished in the fact that there was actually something that could keep the zany girl occupied, an uneasiness crept up in her that worsened with each minute that ticked by. "If there's something that can keep her quiet, it's definitely no good!" Kaorin decided as she looked up and around to find the quirky blonde. A bit of panic took hold of Kaorin as she couldn't spot Asami anywhere. "Asami, where are you?"

"Over here!" the high-pitched voice rang out although in the large warehouse, the sound echoed everywhere and prevented Kaorin from localizing the origin.

"What are you doing?" Kaorin shouted again, unwilling to abandon the food.

A loud clanging rang out as a bunch of things avalanched. "I found a bunch of piping, so now I'm looking for gunpowder or something!" Asami yelled back once the noise ended.

"Gunpowder? Just what the hell are you doing?" Kaorin barked back in an accusatory tone.

"I'm gonna make a bomb, duh!" Asami asserted from wherever she was.

That was the last straw. Kaorin shut off the gas as she jumped to her feet. "Don't even try!" she ordered as she set out to find the mischievous little brat. "I mean it!" Another crash led Kaorin right to the tiny blonde. Finding her new friend half buried in rubble, Kaorin quickly pulled the small girl free. "Are you all right?"

"I'm awesome! Lookie at what I found!" she eagerly announced as she held a stick of dynamite in each hand. "There's a couple of crates of these!"

"No," Kaorin simply refused as she tried to snatch the explosives away.

"You ain't the boss of me!" Asami refused as she squirmed free before clambering up a bunch of crates. "I'm gonna make some bombs!"

"I'm not going to let you blow us up!" Kaorin contended as she pointed to the twerp, unwilling to chase after her. "Do you even know how to make or handle a bomb?"

Asami shook her head before sticking her tongue out at Kaorin. "Not a clue!" she admitted, "But how hard can it be?"

"Who cares how hard it is!" Kaorin admonished. "One mistake and its game over!"

"But what if I had another life?" Asami contended.

"This isn't a video game!" Kaorin angrily retorted.

"I could still have another life!" Asami stupidly argued. "If cats have nine lives, then humans have gotta have what, twenty-three?" The small blonde then started counting on her fingers before showing Kaorin seven fingers. "I've already used up seven, so I've got…" she paused as she had to count on her fingers how many were left, "…sixteen left!"

Kaorin cradled her head in her hands as she gave up reasoning with the zany girl. "Look, we don't have room to take back anything other than the ammo that we need, so you can't carry any explosives back anyway!" After telling Asami off, Kaorin stormed away to finish cooking, satisfied that the blonde would have to accept that truth.

While Kaorin's words did make Asami take pause, it didn't take long for the mischievous girl to come up with another idea. "There's gotta be a way!" she announced before jumping down from her perch, only to have another avalanche of junk to tumble down on her.

A few minutes of foreboding silence later, Kaorin finished cooking the meal and had set the plates. She hadn't heard any explosions, so it wasn't likely that Asami had blown herself up, and no gunshots meant that she wasn't bug food, either. Deciding that wherever the hyperactive girl was, she had to be fine, Kaorin cupped her hands around her mouth as she shouted, "Lunch is ready!" before she sat down and started eating her own plate.

Sure enough, within a minute the tiny blonde appeared as she snatched up her plate and began unscrupulously shoveling food down her gullet. "Ah ahache a carh hu da scucher," she unintelligibly announced with a mouth full of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Kaorin scolded as she sent a glare in Asami's direction. "I didn't understand a word."

Asami grabbed a bottle of water and used it to wash down her mouthful of food. "I said: I attached a cart to the scooter," she said as soon as she could. "Now there's plenty of room to bring back the dynamite!"

"I told you to forget about those bombs!" Kaorin angrily retorted.

"No," Asami contradicted, "You said: 'We don't have enough room,'" the blonde pointed out as she did her best impersonation of Kaorin. "I made enough room!"

"Then let's carry back more guns and bullets, or get more food and water," Kaorin argued. "Those are all more useful than something that's likely going to blow up in our faces, literally!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Asami chided, "Kaori isn't using her head," she claimed before rummaging around in her pocket. Pulling out one of the flashing fireworks she continued, "Attach this to a bomb, and it's not just a distraction, its bait for a deathtrap!"

Although Kaorin couldn't argue that the idea had merit, she still didn't want to risk getting blown to kingdom come. "And how do you know we won't be killed by the blast, too?" she challenged.

Asami just shrugged. "You never know until you try," she claimed. "But, I just know this'll work like a charm!"

"You contradicted yourself…" Kaorin pointed out the flaw in Asami's broken logic.

"It doesn't matter!" Asami dismissed. "Everything always works out in the end!"

"Unless you die horribly!" Kaorin retorted.

"Better than living horribly!" Asami countered, much to Kaorin's chagrin.

Although she wouldn't admit it, Kaorin reluctantly conceded as she angrily shoveled food into her mouth.

-Back at Toudai research hospital-

"That is… quite the problem," Ojiisan admitted after listening to Chiyo explain to him the virus's deadly nature towards newborns and what they planned to do about it.

"First thing's first," Chiyo asserted, "Do you know where a clean room is here and how to get it functional?"

Ojiisan shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I've never really been anywhere past the first floor, so I wouldn't know where to start," he apologetically explained.

"I've been everywhere!" Hiro announced, happy to be useful. "But I don't know what a clean room is," he added as he realized that he had no idea what they were talking about.

"Well… that is to say…" Chiyo dodged as she realized that although she was familiar with the function of a clean room, she had little idea of what one looked like or how to describe it. "A clean room is a place to put people with highly compromised immune systems or severe burns," she recalled, "It'd have to be fairly isolated, with only a decontamination room of some sort leading to it."

"So… what does it look like?" Hiro obliviously asked.

Chiyo visibly deflated. "I don't know," she admitted.

"If it's here, I'm sure you'll be able to find it," Ojiisan assured.

"That's a really nice thought, but it's the "If it's here" part that worries me," Chiyo pointed out.

"You shouldn't worry so much," the old man advised. "The odds are in your favor. This is a large, modern hospital. In the small chance that there isn't one, well you'll just have to cross that bridge if and when it comes now won't you?"

Chiyo offered him a strained smile. "You're awfully optimistic, aren't you?" she asked rhetorically.

"Things can't get much worse," Ojiisan pointed out, "I think each and every one of us is far overdue for some good luck by this point."

"Chihiro keeps telling us that we can't rely on luck," Chiyo informed him.

"Chihiro… is that the scary one with the scar on her face?" Ojiisan inquired as he traced his finger across his face to trace where Chihiro's scar was.

Chiyo nodded. "She's assertive, brave, and seems to know what she's doing, so she usually calls the shots," the little genius explained.

"It was her idea to come here?" the white-haired man continued to prod.

This time Chiyo shook her head. "It was my idea to come here."

"It was a good idea," Ojiisan asserted. "I don't know about a vaccine, but I'm sure the doctors here would have been scrambling for a cure before everything fell apart. With a little luck you might find some clues to point you in the right direction."

"Ah, that would be a good place to start after we find a clean room," Chiyo appreciated.

"Even though you haven't stated it as a goal, if you want to know more about those monsters, we were studying them here," Ojiisan informed Chiyo. "We learned a lot."

"We?" Chiyo repeated back to him. "I thought it was just you and Hiro here?"

The old man sighed as he downcast his gaze. "There were seven others here up until that earthquake. They were out gathering supplies… they didn't come back," he explained in a hollow tone. "I was too old to go with them, and someone had to stay behind and take care of Hiro."

"I'm sorry," Chiyo feebly consoled.

"It's ironic, isn't it?" Ojiisan mused with a wistful smile. "We were all sure that bugs would be the death of us, and it's an earthquake that claimed them."

"You noticed that, too, huh?" Chiyo asked rhetorically. "In our case, we've had some of our closest calls with in-fighting, even though we've all been friends for a really long time."

"Ah, so you've all been together since this whole mess started?" Ojiisan inquired.

Chiyo paused a moment as she thought about what the correct answer to that question would be. "Well… yes and no," she explained. "We all went to the same high school together and we've been good friends since, although we were separated for a while since the outbreak. I'm not too sure about the others, but I was in America when everything fell apart."

The old man almost didn't hear the vast majority of Chiyo's explanation. "You… all went to the same high school?" he asked, not quite believing that so many people who knew each other could beat the odds and survive the end of the world.

Chiyo nodded in response. "We were all in the same class in our second year," she elaborated. "With the exception of Kagura and Kaorin, we were all in the same class all throughout high school."

"That's… unbelievable," Ojiisan noted. "I had dozens of friends, maybe hundreds of acquaintances, and none of them survived the initial plague. How can four of your friends have survived along with you?"

"Four?" Chiyo repeated just as she realized that the old man hadn't met the entire group. "There are eight of us in all," she corrected. "Sakaki and Kagura stayed behind on the bus, and Kaorin stayed back at the police station."

Ojiisan just stared at Chiyo with a baffled expression on his face. "I-is there something about your group that's special? How have all of you survived together like that?"

Chiyo shook her head. "Even though I'm really glad for it, I have no idea how we've all made it."

The old man couldn't help but smile a bit as he shook his head. "Maybe you should look into that after you finish that vaccine you're so eager to make, or maybe you'll find the key to the cure by figuring it out."

"Easier said than done," Chiyo pointed out.

Ojiisan chuckled at the comment. "Isn't everything?" he quipped.

The conversation came to an abrupt end as the sound of gunfire echoed into the pharmacy. "It sounds like a gun," Hiro pointed out the obvious.

"Are you going to go help your friends?" Ojiisan seriously suggested.

Chiyo shook her head with a sigh. "It's not that I don't want to help them, but I'm afraid that in my condition, I'm not of much use to them. Not that I'm good at shooting a gun, anyway."

"Even if you can't really help them, won't going there to try your best at least set your mind at ease?" he countered. "I know just how painful it can be to sit by knowing that you can do nothing."

After a moment of thought, Chiyo offered Ojiisan an enthusiastic nod. "I'll be back," she assured as she turned to leave.

"I'll go, too!" Hiro butted in as he raced to Chiyo's side.

"I-it's not a good idea for you to come with me," Chiyo asserted as she stopped in her tracks. "It's too dangerous for you."

"You aren't much bigger than me!" Hiro countered. "And boys are supposed to protect girls!"

Chiyo looked to Ojiisan for help. "I-I appreciate the sentiment," she allowed as she tried to gently nudge Hiro in Ojiisan's direction, "but it could be really dangerous for you."

"Stay here with me," Ojiisan recommended. "With those girls moving supplies in here, there could even be monster-bugs in the hallways."

Hiro hesitated at that statement. "They're inside?" he fretted.

"It's possible," Chiyo warned. "That's why I have to go out there alone." She then made a show of pulling out the machine pistol that Chihiro had given her. "I'm the only one who can deal with them right now, so you stay here, okay?"

Hiro looked to Ojiisan, who reiterated Chiyo's sentiment. "O-okay," the boy relented as he hesitantly let Chiyo go.

"I should be back with the others soon," Chiyo assured as she headed for the door. As soon as she opened it, however, she backpedalled away allowing Tomo and Kagura to help Sakaki into the room. "You're back?" Chiyo exclaimed as she easily made room for the trio.

"When the bugs showed up, Chihiro said it'd be too dangerous to let any get inside," Kagura explained as she and Tomo gently set Sakaki down in the middle of the room. "Since we already got enough supplies in for now, we just hurried up, got in, and sealed up the doors."

"Oh…" Chiyo realized as she just then grasped how quiet it had gotten without the gunfire echoing in the background.

"The others should be right behind us," Kagura elaborated.

As if on cue, a thump sounded at the door. Chiyo scrambled to open it up, but hesitated as her hand rested on the handle. "I-if it's you guys, then say something!" she loudly requested to make sure she didn't inadvertently let a bug in.

"Open the damned door!" Yomi's voice sounded from beyond the door. "This shit's heavy!"

"R-right!" Chiyo announced as she pulled the door open.

As soon as the door swung open, Yomi burst in with a box in her arms. "This is killing me!" the brunette complained as she quickly abandoned the box.

"Ribs still bothering you?" Chihiro inquired as she came in alongside Osaka with an ammo box in each hand. Osaka, on the other hand, was carrying only her camcorder.

"A little," Yomi grunted as she stumbled back towards the door, ready to carry in more supplies.

Chihiro interfered with Yomi's progress by deliberately standing in her way. "You stay here, then," Chihiro asserted. "There isn't any rush to get everything we got into the building over here. I'll just do it myself."

"Y-You're sure?" Yomi hesitated as she stepped out of the way to allow Chihiro to set down the ammo boxes in a corner.

"We're safe now," Chihiro stated the obvious. "Everyone deserves to take it easy while we get everything together, especially since half of us are injured."

"I guess so," Yomi relented as she made her way to Kagura's side to check on Sakaki.

Ojiisan and Hiro also huddled around the tall woman. "Are you all right?" the old man inquired as he knelt down.

"It just… hurts," Sakaki grunted as she drew a bottle of pills from her pocket and popped the top off with her one good hand.

"Sakaki got crushed in the earthquake a while ago," Kagura explained as Sakaki brought the bottle to her lips and downed a few pills without the aid of water. "Everything must still be healing."

"We have a few beds set up in the IV room," Ojiisan asserted as he pointed to a door. "You can take her there to rest."

"Right," Kagura affirmed as she looked up to try and find Chihiro, only to discover that she had already left. "Damn, where did Chihiro go?" she cursed as Yomi and Tomo started to get Sakaki to her feet.

"She went to carry more stuff in," Chiyo informed Kagura.

"Wait, wait, wait," Ojiisan ordered as he struggled back to his feet. "You're all making this much harder than it has to be," he asserted. "This is a hospital. Go find a gurney or two. You can use them to move her and the supplies."

The entire group felt like idiots for a moment, minus Sakaki who felt a tinge of anger thanks to the unnecessary pain she'd just gone through. "I'll go find one!" Chiyo quickly announced, eager to be of use. As she opened the door, she hesitated to leave the pharmacy. The door would automatically lock each time it closed, and could only be opened from the inside. It would prove to be a bother to have to have someone open it each time. "Can someone find a way to prop this open?" she requested.

Kagura quickly grabbed one of the heavy ammo boxes with her good arm and placed it in front of the door to keep it open. "There," she offered as Chiyo offered a little thanks and started out into the hallway. Kagura quickly looked to the group, who seemed to be quite content with just waiting before turning back and going after Chiyo. "I'll go tell Chihiro," she offered as she went the opposite way of Chiyo.

"When do I get to eat?" Hiro suddenly asked as soon as that duo vanished.

"L-Let's see if we have any food in here, yet," Yomi offered as she went the box that she brought in moments ago. "That explains why it was so heavy," she muttered as she opened it to find bottled water and canned food. "Do you have anything to cook with?" Yomi asked as she turned to Ojiisan. The old man offered a nod, eliciting Yomi to grab an armful of cans. "Let's start lunch, then!"

"I'm starving, too!" Tomo loudly admitted as she went behind Yomi and grabbed more cans. "Let's get cooking!"

Sakaki sighed, despite the pain it caused. At the mere mention of food, everyone forgot about her as they all scrambled to start cooking. It was just as she began to lament her abandonment, Sakaki's stomach growled. Despite being hungry, the pain medication was having her stomach doing flip-flops, so eating wasn't very high on Sakaki's list of things she wanted to do. _I wonder… if this is what hell is like,_ she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and tried not to think about her own discomfort.

As the majority of the group quickly got to cooking, Chihiro, Kagura, and Chiyo all reentered the pharmacy pushing a gurney that had supplies stacked onto it. "We're back!" Chiyo announced.

"We're over here!" Osaka announced from across the room as she waved her free hand.

"Give me a hand unloading this!" Chihiro shouted as she started unloading the boxes. Although Chiyo started helping and Yomi got up and went over to help, none of the other girls were willing or able to help. The boy, Hiro, however, came alongside Yomi to lend a hand as well. "You're quite the good kid, huh?" Chihiro asked rhetorically as the boy did his best to help out, despite being too short and too weak to really help much. "Just like Chiyo."

"I'm not a kid anymore!" Chiyo protested as she, too, tried to do her best, even though that wasn't very helpful either.

"So you say," Chihiro teased as she did her burden as the only healthy one able to unload the bed, "but no matter how you look at it, you could still pass as a twelve-year-old."

Chiyo growled at the comment. "Stop acting like Tomo," she scolded, eliciting a painful laugh from Yomi.

Chihiro couldn't help but chuckle as well. "I should know better than to try to outwit a genius," she conceded.

"And don't forget it!" Chiyo added, happy to win for once.

Seeing his chance, Ojiisan stood up and took a couple of steps away from the chaos ensuing around the eagerly anticipated food. "Now that all of us are gathered together in the same room," he started, but hesitated as he did a head count. "This is all of you, right?"

"Everyone is accounted for," Chihiro quickly answered after only glancing over the room.

"Well, now that we are all here," Ojiisan started again, "perhaps we should get to know one another a bit better. After all, it looks like we'll be spending quite a bit of time together." Getting a general consensus from the room, he continued, "Well, I'm fairly sure you all know my name, so perhaps you could start off by telling me your names."

Chiyo was the first to speak up, despite the fact that she was the only one of the girls whose name Ojiisan already knew. "My name is Chiyo, and I was studying abroad in America when the plague broke out," the redhead formally introduced herself in an attempt to get the ball rolling.

"I'm Chihiro, an ex-government lackey," Chihiro said in turn before motioning to Yomi. Yomi, however, didn't respond. In fact, she didn't so much as move a muscle. "Oi," Chihiro prodded as she snapped her fingers in front of the brunette's face. "Looks like it happened again," she somberly noted at Yomi's lack of a response.

"Is something wrong?" Ojiisan inquired as he approached the gurney.

"Sort of," Chiyo spoke up as she gathered around Yomi alongside Chihiro, Ojiisan, and Hiro. "Yomi keeps having seizures," she sadly informed the old man.

Ojiisan was a bit perplexed. "She's going to have one?" he asked as he looked to Yomi's vacant stare.

In just that moment, Yomi suddenly blinked as she jumped a bit, surprised that everyone was suddenly around her. "W-were you all here a second ago?" the bewildered brunette asked.

"You had another seizure," Chiyo sadly told the taller woman.

Yomi flinched at the comment. "O-oh," she replied in a hollow tone as she mechanically went back to unloading the cart, purposefully ignoring everyone as if they weren't even there.

"Uh-um…" Chiyo spoke up again as everyone else shared glances. "We-we were all just introducing ourselves to Ojiisan and Hiro," she explained. "It's your turn."

Without hesitating in her motions, Yomi simply spoke her own name.

Realizing that he was treading in a minefield, Ojiisan was eager to move on down the line and away from the simmering brunette. "I believe I heard your name to be Sakaki," the old man recalled as he retreated towards the downed woman.

Opening her eyes, Sakaki cast a glance at the grey-haired man. "That's right," she affirmed.

"Did you used to have a job before the apocalypse?" he inquired as he sat down next to her.

"Veterinarian," Sakaki simply replied before closing her eyes again.

"I can empathize with you, young lady," Ojiisan spoke up after a few seconds of silence. "Sometimes it's a lot of trouble for me to get these old bones moving, too." The ploy failed to elicit a response from the tall woman. Giving up on making a good impression on her as well as Yomi, the old man turned to the girls who were impatiently cooking. "What about you three?"

"I'm Tomo Takino!" Tomo informed the old man in a haughty tone, "I'm a police officer." She then pointed to Osaka, "She's Osaka," Tomo explained before shifting her finger to Kagura, "and she's Kagura. They're both still students."

"It's Ayumu," Osaka corrected. "My name is really Ayumu."

"And we aren't students anymore," Kagura added.

"Don't confuse the old man," Tomo scolded as she motioned to Osaka. "She's from Osaka, so everyone just calls her Osaka," she explained. "Just call her Osaka."

Osaka shook her head. "I told ya before, I was born in Wakayama," she reminded Tomo.

"I told you not to confuse him!" Tomo argued.

Ojiisan couldn't help but to laugh at the nonsense. "You sure are a lively group, aren't you?"

"This little thing won't carry this much," Kaorin predicted as she exited the warehouse and caught sight of the cart of high explosives attached to the back of the scooter. "It could barely carry the both of us." Although it was the truth, the fact that it supported her opposition to bringing back bombs at all made the scenario all the sweeter.

"So you walk," Asami countered.

Kaorin responded by ripping the cart from the scooter. "I'm sick of putting up with your constant insanity!" Kaorin snapped. "If you want to get blown up so badly, then come back here tomorrow and get the stuff by yourself! I want no part in it!"

Asami growled at Kaorin's apparent selfishness. "If that's how you feel, then go back to the station on your own! It's my scooter!"

"Why the hell are you so dead set on using bombs?" Kaorin demanded as she grabbed a backpack full of food and water from the scooter.

"I haven't tried it yet!" Asami asserted. "If you wanna live, you gotta adapt! If you just keep doing the same old thing, you'll never improve your situation!"

"Even if that's true, pursuing dangerous things just because you think that it's fun is just going to lead to disaster!" Kaorin challenged.

"We survived the apocalypse! Disaster has nothing on us!" Asami countered.

Fed up, Kaorin started walking in the direction of the police station. "It's like talking to a brick wall," she grumbled before speaking up. "You want to keep the bombs, fine," she spat, "but if you're going to keep them, then you aren't welcome in the police station!" Kaorin asserted, making sure to grab a backpack of supplies that they had gathered.

"If that's how you really feel," Asami replied as she grabbed a different share of supplied from the scooter. "There's plenty of stuff here I can play with! I don't need you or your police station!" With that, the blonde took off and disappeared into the warehouse.

"I-if you'd rather keep the dynamite than come with me, then suit yourself!" Kaorin yelled after the quirky girl, just as infuriated at her plan backfiring as she was at the apparent betrayal. In her rage, Kaorin jumped on the scooter and took off. Asami didn't even notice as Kaorin rode away on her scooter.

-After lunch at Toudai-

After moving to the I.V. room and eating their fill, the group gathered around as they tried to decide on their next step. "Should we try ta get tha rest of tha stuff from the bus?" Osaka suggested as she plopped down next to a low cot that had already become Sakaki's.

"We've got enough stuff in here to last us a while," Yomi countered. "Our top priority is to find a clean room."

"I'm getting tired of you singing that same old song," Chihiro bit back. "We're here, so of course we're going to take care of that, but we're going to do some other things first."

"Screw you," Yomi growled as she grabbed her gun and got up. "We're already here, so I'm going to go find it. Even if that means I have to do it myself. It's not like I need your damned permission, anyway."

As Yomi approached the door, Chihiro got up and also made sure to pick up her weapon. "Damn it, Yomi!" Chihiro spat as she trailed after the brunette. "We don't know if any rooms or floors in this building are infested or not! I'll be damned if I'm going to let you go on a wild goose chase for something you wouldn't even recognize if you found it… at least not alone," Chihiro explained as Yomi stopped in her tracks. "As you said, I'm in no position to stop you, but I really wish you would at least stop long enough for us to gather our thoughts."

"We don't have time to waste!" Yomi shot back. "We don't even know if there is a clean room here, and if there isn't then we have to find a different hospital!"

Chihiro sighed as she turned to Chiyo. "If there is one here, where would it be?"

Chiyo looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. "It would be someone where there would be people with compromised immune systems… so a burn ward, maybe?" she guessed. "If you can find it, there might be an area for immunology or oncology, too. It might even be somewhere around where they have all of the inpatient rooms. I really don't know."

"That doesn't narrow down things at all," Chihiro complained.

"I-I'm sorry," Chiyo apologized.

"That's fine with you?" Chihiro remarked to the impatient Yomi. "Searching this entire hospital for something we'd have a hard time even recognizing?"

"It's not like Chiyo knows what it'd look like either," Yomi countered. "It needs to be found ASAP."

Chihiro hung her head as she resigned. "Fine, we'll go look," she relented. "But at the first sign of a bug we're coming back here and waiting until Kagura can lend us a hand… maybe Kaorin, too. If she hasn't done anything foolish, that is."

"You can turn back if you want," Yomi commented as she again headed for the door. "Nothing will stop me."

Chihiro just sighed as Yomi marched to the door. "We'll be back," she announced as she followed after the determined brunette.

"I'll go, too!" Kagura volunteered as she got up and started after Chihiro.

"I appreciate the offer, but maybe you should stay here," Chihiro declined. "If anything happens, the group here is already in bad shape with me and Yomi gone. I knew I should have dragged Kaorin along- kicking and screaming or not."

Kagura grit her teeth. "Fine," she spat, clearly unhappy at being left behind again. "You'd better not let anything happen to you."

"I plan on turning back at the first sign of trouble," Chihiro assured.

"I won't give up," Yomi contradicted as she headed out the door.

Chihiro just sighed as she trailed after her. "Take care of things here," she requested. "I'll be sure to bring back anything that looks helpful."

"Be careful," Chiyo wished Chihiro luck as she disappeared.

"I hate sitting around and doing nothing," Kagura grumbled as she sat back down. "If I knew who shot me, I'd punch them!"

"It wasn't me!" Osaka claimed. "Kaorin did it."

"It-it was actually the bugs' fault though, right?" Chiyo suggested in an effort to maintain peace.

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement, aside from the bed-addled Sakaki and the two that were in the dark about the situation. "You were shot?" Ojiisan questioned.

"I got shot!" Tomo announced. "Kaorin shot me."

"E-eh?" the old man blurted out in surprise.

"She was wearing a bulletproof vest," Kagura explained. "So she didn't really get hurt."

"Hey! I'll have you know that it hurt like hell!" Tomo retorted.

Kagura pointed to her shoulder. "I think this hurt just a little more."

"Just a little," Tomo allowed, irking the tomboy to no end.

While Kagura growled, Ojiisan tried to put two and two together. "So this Kaorin shot both of you?"

"Maybe," Kagura confirmed. "I was just unlucky to be behind a bug that the others were shooting at. It was Osaka or Kaorin that shot me."

"Well, Kaorin tried to kill me," Tomo claimed, as if it were somehow a contest and that she had won. "She shot me on purpose."

"I… think I'm starting to see why you left this Kaorin behind," Ojiisan interjected.

"Kaorin really isn't a bad person," Chiyo asserted, quick to defend her friend. "She just… hasn't adjusted very well."

Kagura nodded in agreement. "She isn't a bad person, but she can still be a danger to herself and everyone around her. But we didn't leave her behind out of spite, either," she elaborated. "She wanted to stay behind for whatever reason."

"I see," Ojiisan said as he started to get a clearer picture.

"Speaking of wounds, Chiyo here got mauled by a bug," Tomo announced as she pointed to the redhead.

Chiyo shoved up her sleeves to show off her scarred arms and pointed to her marred calf. "I wasn't even in Japan for ten minutes and I got attacked by one," she explained before hiding her arms again. "It really did a number on me."

"An' Sakaki got crushed by tha earthquake. She protected me," Osaka added.

"You mentioned that before," Ojiisan recalled. "The first part anyway."

"Do you have any badges of honor?" Tomo asked Ojiisan as she pulled down her collar to show off her still-healing wound. "A bug nearly took my head off!"

"Badge of honor?" he replied as he tried to imagine how the pregnant girl could have survived such an obviously close call. "Can't say that I have. I've been here ever since I got sick, you see. I've only very rarely even seen those… monsters."

Ojiisan received puzzled stares from nearly the entire room. Tomo was the first one to speak up. "How can you have gone all this time and never even seen a bug?" she demanded. "They're all over the place around here!"

"They didn't show up until that night when they flew," he recalled. "The others figured that they were spreading out and making new nests by flying. The next thing we knew, this spot was right between two warring nests. We were really fortunate that we'd already boarded everything up by then."

"You must be really lucky," Kagura marveled. "Up until the earthquake, that is."

Ojiisan shook his head. "Those monsters aren't the only threat around here, you know," he advised. "Despite being relatively safe from them, we still lost several people to accidents and disease."

"But… y'all are in a hospital," Osaka pointed out. "Wouldn't this be tha best place in tha world ta get sick?"

"If we had doctors and nurses and working equipment," the old man claimed. "We had a few people that knew a thing or two, but it wasn't enough."

"Th-then… Sakaki," Chiyo murmured as she cast a glance at the limp girl.

"She looks pretty banged up, but didn't you say that she was injured in the quake?" Ojiisan asked rhetorically. "I doubt her injuries are life threatening if she's made it this long."

The statement provided little comfort to the group, especially Sakaki. "We-we were hoping that we could help Sakaki once we got here," Chiyo lamented.

"It might be possible to do something to help her," Ojiisan asserted. "If you can figure out how to get the equipment working, or we can find an actual doctor. I'm pretty doubtful about the possibility of actually finding even a nurse, though."

"Sakaki is a vet though!" Kagura pointed out. "Isn't that just as good as a doctor?"

Ojiisan just shrugged his shoulders. "How am I supposed to know?" he asked rhetorically before motioning to Sakaki. "You'd have to ask her that."

"If we could… work the equipment then I might… be able to diagnose myself. Even though… I have a pretty good idea," Sakaki spoke as she drew her breaths carefully although she never actually opened her eyes or even moved anything other than her mouth. "But what… can really be done?"

"What do you mean?" Kagura argued as she tried to be optimistic. "If you can figure out what's wrong, that's all you need, right?"

Chiyo shook her head. "It should have healed more than this by now," she explained. "Medication probably won't fix it, either. That just leaves surgery or therapy."

"It's surgery… probably," Sakaki claimed.

"S-so, we'll just do a surgery," Kagura suggested, her confidence wavering. "Chiyo can do that, right?"

"I can't," Chiyo argued. "I don't know anything about that sort of thing."

Kagura deflated even further. "Y-you're saying that no matter what… we can't help her?"

"We'll do everything we can to help Sakaki!" Chiyo proclaimed.

"But surgery isn't something that you can do, huh?" Ojiisan observed with a sigh. "I wish I could help, but even the seven that were left here weren't really doctors like that."

"Maybe we can find one," Tomo suggested. "We've all made it this long then someone else has to have made it, too."

"So… you haven't run into anyone else?" Ojiisan hesitantly asked.

Tomo shook her head. "It's not that we haven't found anyone… it's that they're dead," she somberly informed the old man. "Even Taro…"

Taking the hint, Ojiisan decided not to pry. "A-anyway, I guess that means you guys are fortune enough not to stray too far north."

"What's… north of here?" Kagura inquired.

"There is…" Ojiisan hesitated as he contemplated where to start. "Somewhere north of here there is a fairly large group that is both well-armed and… well, violent."

"That sounds bad," Tomo commented.

"Is this place really safe?" Kagura demanded. "How far away are they?"

Ojiisan shrugged as he shook his head. "I don't know a whole lot of details, but I do know that we should be fairly safe here. Firstly, they almost certainly don't know that anyone is here. And second is that this just happens to be in the middle of a turf war between those beasts. They'd hesitate poking their noses around."

"Maybe it's not that bad," Chiyo suggested. "In a situation like this, it's only natural for some people to make a ruckus, but given the chance to rejoin an actual society and those people usually go back to being normal. That's how things worked back in America."

"No, it would seem as though the 'society' is the problem," Ojiisan refuted with a sigh as he thought back. "As I understand it, the group is led by a group of violent men who treat everyone that they don't like as slaves."

"Oi, how do you know all of this?" Kagura pressed the old man. "You'd better not just be trying to spook us!"

Ojiisan sighed at the accusation. "I honestly don't know if it's really true, actually," he admitted. "You see, back before those monsters decided to make nests around here, we had a man and two women show up here," he explained. "One girl was very sick, so of course we let them in. They told us the story. Apparently they were enslaved there but escaped with several others. I remember them telling lots and lots of painful stories about that place, so I really don't think that they were lying."

"I… see," Kagura mumbled in a voice laced with an apologetic tone.

"S-so I guess this means we need to look south to find a doctor for Sakaki," Chiyo suggested in an effort to steer the conversation away from the somber subject.

"It's risky," Kagura commented. "Not to mention we still have a lot that we have to do here, too."

"But if we can find more people, then the rest of the work will get easier, right?" Tomo suggested. "I'm all for the work being easier."

"What work are you doing?" Kagura sarcastically remarked.

"I'm busy creating a human life!" Tomo claimed in a haughty tone.

-Elsewhere in the hospital-

Yomi and Chihiro stood in front of a small map mounted on a wall as they tried to figure out where to go. "Ojiisan could have told us that half the damned hallways were blocked off," Chihiro grumbled as she tried to determine how to get to the burn ward. "This way, I think."

"Right," Yomi replied as she gave up on trying to decipher the unintelligible squiggles on the map.

"I don't really like that guy," Chihiro admitted as she led the way through the labyrinthine hallways. "It's suspicious that all there is to find in a place that has obviously had so much effort put into it is an old man and a boy. Even if what he said is true, do you really think that seven or eight people could have done all this work?"

"They have had a lot of down time," Yomi suggested. "I spent a lot of rainy days with Sakaki where I thought I might lose my mind from boredom."

"No way," Chihiro refuted as she turned a corner only to find another dead end. "You were bored because you were safe," she argued as they doubled back to find another way around. "Until all the windows here were boarded up, this place had to be a death trap waiting to happen. They couldn't have had a whole lot of time to board it all up."

"Didn't they set up base in the pharmacy?" Yomi asked rhetorically. "That place has heavy duty doors all with good locks to keep the drugs safe. If they stayed there from the start then they wouldn't have needed any extra fortifications, right? That might be why they sealed off so many hallways, too."

Chihiro couldn't help but let out a chuckle as she realized that Yomi had probably just sorted out the mystery. "It's always easiest to block off the chokepoints, I suppose," she commented. "I still think that all this work would have taken more people than that, though."

"Why would Ojiisan hide something like that though?" Yomi queried. "It's pretty clear that he's the only one here besides us."

"Maybe that's what he wants us to think," Chihiro suggested. "Maybe there's an armed squad due back here at sunset. Maybe there are armed people hiding somewhere in this maze."

"That's… a scary thought," Yomi admitted as she followed Chihiro to another dead end.

Chihiro sighed as she glanced around. "We're going to have to find another map," she announced as she could no longer figure out where the burn ward was supposed to be in relation to where they were.

"I think there was one back there," Yomi offered as she pointed her weapon in the direction they had come from.

Chihiro nodded as she led the way looking for another map. "We might have to go up a floor and come back down elsewhere," she suggested after finding another map. "Worst-case scenario is that it's been sealed off and we'll need an axe."

"We've got other places to look though, right?" Yomi asked as they started off again.

"Provided we aren't all dead or captured by morning, I think we need to do a grid search of this area and make ourselves familiar with the layout," Chihiro asserted. "That will definitely tell us if there's a clean room we can use or not."

"You've… been thinking about all of this since before we left the pharmacy," Yomi realized. "That's why you wanted everyone to take a break."

Chihiro nodded. "I realize just as much as you do that time is our enemy and that we can't afford to sit back and relax, but it really is easier to protect everyone if I'm in the same room with them," she explained. "Nightfall would prove that there isn't anyone out hunting for supplies. The possibility that there are other people in the building would still be a threat, but a grid search would put that to rest, too."

"Why didn't you just say all of this earlier?" Yomi asked.

"It'd tip off the old man, who might be able to tip off his allies," Chihiro reasoned. "Not to mention that you certainly weren't about to sit around for more than ten seconds listening to any sort of story."

"Sorry," Yomi apologized, only to bump into Chihiro who had apparently stopped in her tracks. "Wh-what?" she asked as she followed Chihro's gaze to a sign that she couldn't read. "What is it?"

"We're here," Chihiro announced. "Let's have a good look around."

-In the pharmacy-

While Yomi and Chihiro were busy combing through a seemingly endless labyrinth, the group in the IV room had run into a dead end talking about finding other survivors and had moved on to another serious matter.

"I can't say that I really know a whole lot about those monsters, but the others here did a lot of research on them and the basics of that have trickled back to me," Ojiisan informed the group in response to being questioned about the gigantic insects.

"Do you know where they came from?" Chiyo asked. "Or if the virus started with them?"

Ojiisan had little more to offer Chiyo than a vacant stare. "Those sorts of details… I don't know anything that specific," he admitted. "Although, how they got to be here has been a subject of a lot of debate. Everyone was in agreement that it couldn't be evolution or an undiscovered species, but no one had a good theory as to where they actually came from. As for the virus I do know that they are carriers, but who knows where it originated."

"I see," Chiyo responded with more than a little disappointment.

"So do you know anything useful at all about them?" Kagura demanded.

"I've been told about their unique anatomy a time or two," he offered. "Is there anything in particular you would want to know?"

"All that really matters is how best to kill them," Kagura asserted as she patted her pistol.

"If you want to know where to shoot them, then I would advise you to aim for the middle part," Ojiisan suggested. "As for poisons and such, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of options. They're so damned huge that the amount needed to kill them would kill us, too. Not to mention that their anatomy is so different from normal insects that most poisons don't work right."

"Their anatomy is different?" Chiyo asked. "How?"

Ojiisan scratched his balding head as he considered the question. "As I understood it, they are only like insects in appearance," he explained. "Inside they are built very differently."

"I tried to do an autopsy on one once," Chiyo recalled. "But I really don't remember anything about it since I was hurt and sick. I lost my laptop where I recorded it, too."

"The thing that matters most is that they have lots of calcified structures in their bodies," Ojiisan explained as he traced a muted hourglass shape with his hands. "In both the big ones and the smaller ones they have several vertical columns that help support their organs. They are the insect equivalent of bones, more or less. The big ones also have them lining the sides of their exoskeleton. It's what makes them so hard to kill."

"So why did you say to shoot the middle part?" Kagura asked as she tried to wrap her head around the conversation.

"It's the only place on them where the columns don't completely line their sides," Ojiisan clarified. "So it's the only spot where you can shoot them unhindered."

"Why are there no structures there?" Chiyo prodded. "Why do the bugs even have them in the first place?"

"They have them to keep their organs from crushing themselves," Ojiisan elaborated. "If they only had exoskeletons then the innards wouldn't have enough support. Their organs would simply shut down after crushing themselves under their own weight. As for why the big ones have them lining their exoskeletons, my guess would be that it makes for some really good armor. The weak spot is the result of them being able to breathe. They actually have lungs and hearts, but they don't breathe through their mouths. There are apparently dozens of tubes on either side of that middle part that lead to the lungs."

"Ah, so-"

"We found it!" Yomi interrupted Chiyo as she abruptly burst into the room.

"Really?" Tomo asked as she leapt to her feet.

A somewhat irate Chihiro came in shaking her head. "We _think_ we found one," she asserted. "It might be one. We need Chiyo to take a look."

"Right," Chiyo agreed as she struggled to stand before heading towards the door. "Where is it?"

"Come on," Chihiro urged.

"I'll go, too!" Tomo asserted.

Chihiro stopped Tomo as she approached. "No," she ordered. "It still might be dangerous. You stay here where it's safer." Chihiro then took a look around the room to find everyone getting to their feet. "That goes for everyone," she stressed as she gave Yomi a pointed look. "Stay here."

While Yomi followed directions and stayed behind with the rest, Chihiro led Chiyo through the maze to the burn ward. "They're here," Chihiro insisted as they turned another corner to find two identical rooms across the hall from each other.

"There are two of them!" Chiyo exclaimed as she pressed her face against the plastic viewing window of one of them. "It really looks like a clean room."

"Can you get one of them running?" Chihiro bluntly asked.

Chiyo shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted. "I'm not even sure if this is really a clean room. I'll have to take a good look," the genius continued as she headed for the door to what appeared to be an anteroom. "Wash stations, gloves, masks, even full-body clean suits. It's the whole nine yards," Chiyo marveled as she opened the door and walked in. "This really looks like this is what we were looking for!"

"Should we really be coming in here?" Chihiro asked as she hesitated to cross the threshold. "Don't we have to keep it totally clean?"

"If it's stopped running, then it's already contaminated," Chiyo refuted as she opened the door into the clean room. "If it's still running we can just use the other one. Otherwise we'll have to fix it and then clean the room very thoroughly."

"So is it running?" Chihiro asked from the anteroom, still unwilling to actually enter the clean room.

Chiyo walked around the room as she looked up at the walls and ceiling. "I don't think so. You have to keep pumping in air to make the room have positive pressure. The air in here is completely still."

Chihiro sighed at the bad news. "So how confident are you that you can get it running? How long would it take?"

Chiyo shook her head as she headed back towards Chihiro. "I honestly don't know."

"Well, let's get back to the pharmacy," Chihiro suggested as she pointed back towards the hallway with her gun. "You can come up with a plan of action there."

"All right," Chiyo agreed as she nodded. "Just let me check the other clean room first."

"Go on," Chihiro urged as she opted to stand guard in the hall. After only a minute or two, Chiyo emerged from the other clean room wearing a saddened look and shaking her head. "So much for things going our way," Chihiro remarked as she started to lead the way. "Let's get back."

-Later that evening at the police station-

As the shrieks and clicks of the bugs started filtering into the jail cells, Kaorin found herself quite a bit more tormented by the sounds than usual. In her heart she had truly hoped that Asami would somehow make it back before the sun went down and the insects poured out of hiding to start their nightly hunt. But instead Kaorin sat alone, haunted by thoughts of what had probably already happened to the hyperactive girl. "I'm horrible…" she mumbled as she choked back her tears.


	27. Step by Step

A/N: Finally an update! Too bad it's mostly just filler. Things will heat up next chapter. Promise.

* * *

-Just after dawn at the police station-

After tormenting herself all night with thoughts about Asami's fate, Kaorin decided that she had to go out and find the girl. Summoning the nerve to actually leave the cell, though, was proving to be more difficult than expected. Despite having already gathered all the supplies she would need, Kaorin just couldn't seem to muster the courage to pick any of it up, let alone actually open the cell and leave. Kaorin couldn't help but to sigh as she sat down on the cot. "I really am pathetic," she mumbled aloud as she buried her face in her hands. "I was an idiot to force her away."

"Damn right!" an obnoxiously loud voice announced.

Kaorin immediately brightened as she looked up to find the small blonde girl flashing her a smile. "Asami! You're alive!"

"I sure hope so," the quirky girl replied. "Otherwise I'm a zombie, and I don't think brains taste very good." Kaorin didn't seem to have a response to the girl's bizarre remark other than a long, drawn out sigh. "So are ya gonna let me in or not? I didn't bring back any bombs or anything," she announced as she held up her shotgun as it was quite obviously the only thing she had with her. "I don't even have any shells left."

"R-right!" Kaorin fumbled as she searched her pockets for the key. "I'm sorry… for everything," she apologized as she found the key and scrambled to let Asami in. "I just…"

"You're loud," Asami cut Kaorin off in a rather annoyed tone as she barged in.

"But… I-"

"I'm still mad that you took my scooter," the blonde girl informed Kaorin as she made a beeline for the box of supplies. "But I wouldn't be here if I wasn't ready to forgive you. I know you didn't mean what you said. We were just blowing off steam, right? After all, you let me back in."

Kaorin stood in silence for a moment as she closed and locked the cell. "Just like that… just like that and things are supposed to go back to the way they were?"

"Why not?" Asami replied as she pulled a bottle of water from the box of supplies. "Besides, things are more fun with you around. It gives me someone to talk to and you're fun to tease!"

"Is that all I am to you?" Kaorin sadly asked. "Someone to talk to?"

"Yeah, kinda," Asami admitted while never taking her lips off of the bottle of water.

The flaccid response served to deal an emotional blow to Kaorin. "Am I that miserable?"

"You're kind of a downer, that much is true," Asami affirmed as she cast aside the now empty bottle. "'Don't do this, you can't do that'," she mocked Kaorin. "But that's beside the point. If I didn't like you, I wouldn't have come back here. Well, I would have taken back my scooter. It's mine!" The blonde girl then blinked a couple of times as she realized she had gotten off topic. "Anyway, it's not like I can call you my friend. I don't really know anything about you. We're like… uh… accomplices!"

"Do you mean acquaintances?" Kaorin spat, her bitter feelings immediately replaced with a slight annoyance.

"Yeah!" Asami thoughtlessly agreed as she went back to digging through the box of supplies. "For example," she stated as she held up a can of food. "My favorite food is beef! I'd kill someone for some right about now. Yours?"

"Anything that doesn't come out of a can," Kaorin jokingly answered.

Asami struggled to work opening the can with an old fashioned can opener. "I second that! Except those bugs. I cooked one once. Tasted awful."

Kaorin shuttered at the thought before she went over to help Asami cook. "I can't believe you'd try to eat one."

"It was stringy and chewy and tasted bitter," Asami complained. "But better than starving, I guess."

"That's right… you've been alone since the bigger bugs showed up, huh?"

Asami shook her head. "I've met up with a few people between then and now," the blonde contended. "We either didn't get along and I left 'em or they died. So I guess I've been alone as much as I've had company. I like company better than being alone, usually."

"So when you get bored, you will go your own way?" Kaorin gathered.

"No," the blonde refuted. "I can only put up with jackasses for so long, but you're a good person. So I'll probably stick around 'til you're bug food. Speaking of which, if I die before you do, go ahead and burn me. I'd rather be dust than a snack. I'll do the same for you if you want."

"I don't want to be eaten," Kaorin affirmed as she cast a glance at the near motionless girl. "But I'm far from a good person."

"Don't be stupid," Asami scolded. "A lot of your bellowing is for your own sake, but you yell even when I'm the only one in danger. That makes you a good person."

Kaorin shrugged off Asami's words. "You're wrong," she choked out. "I… have blood on my hands."

"Who doesn't?" Asami countered. "It's a rough world we live in nowadays. It doesn't make you a bad person."

"You-you're saying you have blood on your hands, too?" Kaorin asked.

"Of course. Some people deserve to die," Asami proclaimed.

"You say that like it's the simplest thing in the world," Kaorin spat as she took the pan off of the hot plate and set it down in Asami's direction. "Food's done."

Instead of springing up and gorging herself on the food, the blonde struggled just to sit up. "Good, I'm starved," she grumbled as she pulled the pan toward herself.

"You look like hell," Kaorin noted, her voice laced with guilt. "I take it you had a rough night?"

"Mnph, ih wah muh ough," Asami replied with a mouthful of food.

Kaorin sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you not to talk with your mouth full? I didn't understand a word of what you said."

"Nehbumine," Asami responded before swallowing. "Can ya get me some water?" she requested before shoveling more food into her mouth.

"You just downed a liter," Kaorin complained as she moved to the supplies and retrieved a bottle. "I know we just got some, but we should try to make it last."

"Thanks," Asami mumbled as she reached for the bottle. As she leaned over, however, the blonde girl collapsed onto the floor.

"Asami!" Kaorin exclaimed as she dropped the water and was at the blonde's side in a flash. "Asami, are you okay?"

The tiny girl winced as she tried in vain to sit back up on her own. "I-I'm fine," she choked out. "Just tired… and thirsty… and cold."

"You're not fine!" Kaorin refuted as she tried to help Asami back up. One touch of the small girl's skin sent off alarm bells. As soon as Kaorin had Asami back into a sitting position she quickly drew a hand to Asami's forehead. "You're hot," she worriedly noted as she brought her hand to her own face for reference.

"I'm okay… really," Asami claimed even as she was clearly having a bit of trouble just to stay sitting. "You're imagining things."

"I'm not!" Kaorin asserted as she scrambled to find whatever medical supplies she had been left with. "You… you got sick before, right? With everyone else… right?"

"Of course," Asami claimed as she eyed the discarded bottle of water. "Don't worry. I'll be fine all on my own. Some food, water, and a little sleep and I'll be good as new in no time."

After digging through the box that Chihiro had left her, Kaorin found only a meager drugstore first-aid kit and a pill bottle with a few pills and no label. Dismissing the unidentified pills, Kaorin opted to dig through the small first-aid kit. "H-how are you feeling? Sore throat, cough, anything like that?" she asked as she carelessly dug through the kit.

"I told you before. I'm hungry, thirsty, and tired," Asami claimed as she managed to get herself to the discarded bottle of water. "I'll knock out all three in no time."

Kaorin retrieved the only thing from the kit that could help at all with a fever: a single-dose packet of aspirin. As she turned back to Asami, she discovered that the blonde had managed to get herself over to the bottle of water and was currently sitting up and trying in vain to work the cap. "You… you should rest," Kaorin asserted.

"Still thirsty," Asami grunted as she resorted to biting the cap and trying to twist it off that way.

"Here," Kaorin offered as she grabbed the bottle and effortlessly opened it before returning it to Asami along with the packet of pills.

The blonde didn't give the aspirin any mind as she immediately focused her attention on drinking. "Thanks," she mumbled breathlessly as she tossed the packet aside.

"Hey! You need to take that!" Kaorin scolded as she picked up the aspirin. "This should help your fever."

"N-no," Asami refused. "Just… just let me finish eating and… a nap. That's all I need, really."

"Very convincing," Kaorin frowned as she tore open the packet and held out the pills to Asami. "Take your medicine."

"I-I can't," Asami asserted again as she tried to push Kaorin's outstretched hand away. "Just… just leave me alone!"

Kaorin growled at Asami's bizarre resistance. "Just take it! It'll make you feel better!"

"It'll kill me!" Asami thoughtlessly snapped back.

"I-I'm sorry," Kaorin apologized as she finally withdrew her hand. "Are you allergic or something?"

"Allergic…?" Asami mumbled. "Ye-yeah! Allergic! That's it. I'm allergic to it."

Kaorin stared unforgivingly at Asami. "That is the worst lie I've ever heard. Do you have some sort of drug phobia?"

"I-I don't wanna go to the hospital," Asami mumbled with a vulnerability that Kaorin hadn't heard out of the normally invincible girl. "Please don't make me go to the hospital. Promise me you won't make me go, okay?"

Kaorin raised an eyebrow at the bizarre plea. "Asami, I couldn't take you to a hospital if my life depended on it. We'd be eaten before we could get that far," she pointed out the obvious. "And what point is there in a hospital with no doctors or working equipment?"

"I-I just don't wanna go," Asami begged. "Don't make me go to the hospital."

_Is she delirious?_ Kaorin wondered as Asami continued the pointless protest. "I promise," she assured as best she could.

"Really? You won't make me go?"

Kaorin nodded. "I promise… I won't take you to a hospital," she affirmed. "But you really need to take something for your fever, okay?"

Asami shook her head. "Aspirin… is a blood thinner," she explained as she pulled her unruly mane away from her back showing that her shirt was torn. "I don't think… I have a lot to spare."

It was then that Kaorin realized that the entire back of Asami's shirt was stained a reddish-brown. Without saying a word Kaorin moved to remove the bloodstained shirt to reveal a large, crescent-shaped gash along the inside of Asami's right shoulder-blade. "Oh… God…" she whispered as she took in the sight of the red-swollen wound. Although it didn't appear to still be bleeding, the sore was quite obviously infected. "I-I'll go get some bandages!"

"It doesn't really hurt too much," Asami claimed as she opted to lie face down on the floor in anticipation. "But I feel like crap. I bled a lot." It took a moment for the blonde to realize that she wasn't making a very good case for keeping herself out of a hospital bed. "I'll be fine though!" she asserted with false enthusiasm. "No need for a hospital."

"How can that not hurt?" Kaorin wondered aloud as she dumped the first aid kit next to the blonde and grabbed an antiseptic spray. "Even if it doesn't hurt, this will probably sting," she warned just before spraying a liberal amount on the wound.

"It's cold!" Asami flinched as the spray touched her skin.

"This is really horrible," Kaorin noted as she gathered up gauze and medical tape. "How… how did you…?"

"I was having a bit too much fun with the dynamite," Asami admitted. "The big ones might not be curious, but the smaller ones swarm towards anything out of the ordinary. I set off a couple sticks after sunset and got a little overwhelmed."

"So… this is my fault?" Kaorin surmised as she pressed the gauze into place and began taping it.

Asami growled. "There you go beating yourself up again," she complained. "It wasn't any more your fault than mine that we fought. And if I'd listened to you and not played with the dynamite I wouldn't have gotten hurt. This scar-to-be is my fault and my fault alone."

Kaorin remained silent as she finished patching up the terrible wound. "It looks really infected," she noted as she dumped everything back into the first-aid kit and closed it. "This might be really bad if we don't do something."

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Asami asserted. "Just gimmie a hand eating and then I'll take a nap and I'll be good as new. Better than new! What fails to kill you only makes you stronger, right?"

"You're really going to be okay?" Kaorin asked with a guilty conscience as she helped pull the blonde up and over to the half-eaten meal.

"I've survived worse," Asami bragged as she tilted her head to the side and swept her hair away. "Like this one… or this one," she explained as she pointed to a couple of her many scars. The stretching was enough to tear the bandages loose and allow a bit of fluid to drain from the wound.

"Ah! What are you doing?" Kaorin exclaimed as she scrambled for the first-aid kit. "You're messing up the dressing and tearing open that gash!"

Asami made an uncharacteristic squeak as she tried in vain to reach the bandages in a futile attempt to reset it. "I-I'm sorry! I'll fix it!"

"Just-just stay still!" Kaorin ordered as she pulled more gauze and tape from the kit. "I'll redo it. Just try to be more careful."

"I didn't mean to," the blonde insisted. "I won't do it again, so please don't take me to the hospital!"

"What's the matter with you?" Kaorin scolded as she pulled the old dressing off and used it to mop up the blood and fluid that was now draining from the wound. "Something like this… doesn't it hurt?"

"Of course it hurts," Asami claimed, despite the fact that she didn't really show any signs of pain. "On a scale of one to ten, I'd say it's a three, three-and-a-half tops."

"This is a three?" Kaorin wondered as she as she pressed fresh gauze into place and began taping. "What on earth do you consider a ten?"

"Getting run over by a car," Asami replied matter-of-factly.

Kaorin mentally kicked herself for stepping on that particular land mine. "Ah… I, uh, remember you saying something about that."

"It actually killed me!" Asami boasted. "Let me tell ya; I don't care what anyone says, dying hurts."

"But you're not dead," Kaorin pointed out as she finished up. "It's fixed now," she informed the blonde. "Don't tear it up again."

"The doctors brought me back to life," Asami amazingly continued her train of thought without getting distracted. "It's a miracle of science!"

Kaorin raised an eyebrow as she closed the first-aid kit for the second time. "If the doctors saved you, then why are you so adamant about not going to a hospital? Seems kind of weird for someone who just yesterday was eager to shoot herself for the hell of it."

Asami's tone quickly changed to a very serious one. "I _hate_ hospitals," she informed Kaorin. "I'd rather die than go to another hospital."

Judging by the tone, it seemed as though Asami didn't want to discuss it. Although, Kaorin really couldn't tell what was going on in the psychotic girl's head. "Just… just eat," she gave up entirely collapsing onto the cell floor.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" Asami suggested as she picked up her chopsticks. "Hou avn eaghn ehht, whaigh?"

"You're never going to learn not talk with your mouth full, are you?" Kaorin asked rhetorically as she fixated on Asami's wound. She just sighed as the blonde strung together more incoherent garbling. _Even if she doesn't blame me, it's still my fault_, Kaorin decided as she continued to stare at Asami's wound. _I put her life in danger, and for what?_

-Breakfast at Toudai Medical Research Hospital-

"Eat up, we've got a long day ahead of us," Yomi announced as she began filling plates and passing them out.

"I don't have to do anything, right?" Tomo tried to shirk any and all responsibilities.

"You don't have to do any real manual labor, but that means you get awarded with all of the menial tasks," Yomi teased as she passed a plate to the pregnant woman. "Right, Chiyo?"

The tiny genius shook her head. "I… really don't know," she admitted in a rather defeated manner. "I don't know any more about how to fix the clean rooms than anyone else. We'll just be stumbling in the dark."

"That's not necessarily true," Yomi refuted as she handed the distraught teen a plate. "We were lucky enough to come across two identical rooms, right? We just have to take one apart piece by piece and we can figure out how the other one works."

"Ah! That's brilliant!" Chiyo exclaimed.

"So there's going to be a lot of work to be done," Yomi reasoned.

"Let's not forget that we don't have absolute certainty that this structure is safe," Chihiro added as she accepted a plate from Yomi. "One or two of us needs to go about surveying this building for weak spots. Since we'll need Chiyo to thoroughly observe the dismantling of the spare clean room, it can't be done too quickly. We should have a spare person or two that can do it."

"Is tearing up one of the rooms really okay?" Kagura interrupted. "I mean, what if something goes really wrong with the other one? I thought we needed a backup?"

Everyone was silent for a moment before Yomi spoke up, "That may be true, but having no working clean room is even worse. Without learning how to get one up and running and to keep it running… we're screwed before we even start."

"That's why we need to secure the building, too," Chihiro added. "Shit lot of good those clean rooms will do us if a bunch of bugs force us out."

"Su-such a gamble," Kagura grumbled.

"We're out of time," Yomi argued as she pointed out Tomo's swollen belly. "This gamble is our only shot."

"Le-let's not forget that there still might be other clean rooms in this hospital," Chiyo optimistically assured. "We'll have time to put the clean room back together after we get the other one up and running, too."

"And we still have a lot to do once we finish these tasks," Chihiro reminded the group. "It's great that we finally got this far, but this is where the hard work really starts."

"I hate hard work," Tomo whined.

Hiro jumped at the opportunity to help. "I'm not strong like everyone else, but I can still work hard!"

"Actually, we still need someone to watch over Sakaki until she's on her feet again," Chihiro pointed out. "I was hoping you and Ojiisan could take care of her until then."

"Wait a minute," Kagura spoke up before Hiro or Ojiisan had a chance to. "How the hell are we supposed to take apart a room?"

All the women breathed a collective sigh. "Crap," Yomi muttered while Chihiro took out her frustrations by kicking a nearby box.

"We don't have the tools to do any of that," Chihiro stated the obvious.

"What did we bring with us?" Chiyo asked. "Is that enough?"

Chihiro shook her head. "I don't know. We brought all of our supplies, but we left a lot of crap behind."

"I can't believe we didn't think this through," Yomi berated herself as well as everyone else.

"All we need to do is find the proper tools… no, not even the proper ones," Chihiro surmised. "We just need to tear apart the first clean room to find out how it works. The tools to actually fix the other one can wait. Hopefully we can find whatever we need to tear the clean room apart in the bus or laying around here."

"Hey, they had to use a lot of tools and stuff to board up this place, right?" Chiyo rhetorically asked as she turned to Ojiisan. "Do you know where to find anything we might need?"

The old man rubbed his head as he struggled to retrieve any memory that he could. "I remember that we blocked off everything starting on this floor and working our way up, but I can't recall what we did with the tools when we were done. You might try the upper floors. Other than that I don't know."

"Tch," Chihiro scoffed at the uselessness of the old man's memory. "So we can either fight a platoon of bugs and try to drag everything from the bus in, or scour this entire building and hope we get lucky."

"Either way there's no guarantee that what we find will be enough," Yomi pessimistically pointed out.

"Looking for whatever we need in here is probably safer," Chiyo proposed. "We shouldn't put ourselves at risk if we don't have to."

"Yeah, but any way you look at it we have to clean out the bus sooner or later," Kagura argued.

"Kagura's got a point," Chihiro threw her lot in with Kagura. "I think we should go for unloading everything off the bus. If we didn't bring what we need to start on the clean room with us, then we can search this building for whatever we need. If all else fails we can go back to the station and get whatever we need… and pick up Kaorin while we're at it. Maybe we should just go get Kaorin now and pick up the stuff at the station."

Yomi grumbled as she tossed the various ideas around in her head. "Going back for Kaorin definitely won't fail, but it'll take at least two days. Not to mention we don't know how to get back to the police station without going by that library."

"I'd forgotten about that," Chihiro begrudgingly admitted. "That's a real problem."

"I'm sure we could find another way around," Chiyo suggested.

Chihiro shook her head. "It's risky," she warned as she motioned to Ojiisan. "Our forgetful host has pointed out that there is a rather dangerous group lurking about. A detour could spell disaster. Hell, going back the way we came could be a serious risk. I-I don't even know if we can go back for Kaorin."

"We can't just leave her there all by herself," Chiyo argued. "We have to go back at some point."

"Well, let's keep that in mind," Chihiro announced. "Try and come up with ideas whenever you get a free moment."

-Several hours later-

Osaka, Chiyo, Chihiro, Yomi, Kagura, and Tomo all gathered in one of the clean rooms. The room was littered with a haphazard mess of tools along with some supplies and a hotplate. "We'll probably need more than this in the long run," Chihiro observed as she glanced at the few tools the group was able to liberate from the bus, "but it'll do for now. Kagura and I will grab anything that looks useful while we're mapping the area." She then motioned to Osaka. "Be sure to try and record everything with that camcorder of yours so Chiyo can have a record to look back on, all right?"

"Sure," Osaka replied.

"Well then, let's get to work!" Chihiro cheered before heading out of the room with Kagura in tow.

"So what's 'anything useful,' anyway?" Kagura asked Chihiro before the duo even made it to the end of the hall.

"Anything we might need. Tools, supplies, medicine; that kind of thing," Chihiro reminded Kagura. "Chiyo also mentioned that we should keep an eye out for any books or notes that might be useful, too."

"Oh."

"I'm more worried about actually getting through this maze of blocked-off corridors," Chihiro lamented as she held up a permanent marker. "Chiyo said to mark every room we've been in and every hallway we've been down," she explained as she handed the marker to Kagura. "I hope this works."

Kagura sighed as she accepted the marker. "Even if this does work… every room?" she asked. "That'll take forever!"

"We're not splitting up, if that's what you're suggesting," Chihiro countered. "Too risky. What if you run into one of those overgrown beetles? Are you really confident you can take one out with just a pistol? You can't even reload."

"No… it's not that," Kagura grumbled as she lamented her injury. "Why don't we just board up this floor and seal off the upper floors?"

"No good," Chihiro denied. "You can't let them in anywhere. They might decide to set up a nest. If they nest here then all the lumber in the world won't hold them off. The labs are above us anyway, right? The stuff we need for Sakaki, too."

"Grah," Kagura complained. "And here I was hoping we could relax once we got here."

"Since when has our luck ever been that good?"

-That afternoon at the police station-

Asami sighed as she laid face-down on the cot. After regaining her normal vigor from her nap, the blonde repeatedly ruined her dressing with her antics. In the end, Kaorin just taped the last bit of gauze on Asami with an entire roll of medical tape. The tape wrapped all the way around the blonde's tiny torso and even over her shoulder, effectively protecting Asami's non-existent modesty by covering up her otherwise bare chest.

"Let's go bug hunting!" the tiny girl whined, not unlike a six-year-old. "I'm bored!"

"No," Kaorin irately responded from her spot, sitting next to the cot and leaning against the wall furthest from the bars.

"Then let's go exploring!"

"No!"

"Sex?"

"What is wrong with you!" Kaorin yelled, her sympathy and guilt for the injured girl all but gone. "Weren't you dead tired before? Aren't you in pain? Someone in your position usually doesn't want to do anything other than stay still because of the pain."

"Of course it hurts," Asami pouted, "but I'd rather be having fun."

"If you want to have 'fun' that much, then go," Kaorin surrendered.

"I can use your gun?" the blonde excitedly asked.

"No!"

"But I'm out of ammo!" Asami whined.

"Yeah, and whose fault is that?" Kaorin quipped.

"You're partly to blame too, you know." Asami pointed out.

Kaorin's posture drooped as Asami's words scored a direct hit. "Y-yeah… sorry."

"Oi! What's with that glum attitude?" Asami admonished. "Don't be like that! You're no fun when you're like that!"

"I never meant for anyone to get hurt…" Kaorin mumbled as she cast her gaze to a spot just outside the bars. "But… but every time… it's-it's like I'm cursed."

Asami pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Well that's fine! If you never meant to hurt anyone then you're obviously a good person with good intentions! If it's a curse then let's get rid of it! I love killin' bad things like that!"

"D-don't be stupid," Kaorin scolded, in spite of Asami's words making her feel a bit better. "Something like that can't be killed."

"If it exists then it can cease to exist," Asami pointed out. "Call it what you want. I like calling it 'kill.' So let's kill it!"

Kaorin sighed at her inability to argue with the blonde screwball. "And what if my bad luck kills you first?"

Asami raucously laughed at the suggestion. "I'm invincible!" she boisterously claimed as she jumped up and tried to pull Kaorin to her feet. "So let's go kill it!"

"This is just a ruse so you can go play!" Kaorin realized. "Hell no!"

"But I'm bored!"

"It's getting late," Kaorin reasoned, having forgotten her gloominess already. "We don't have enough time before dusk to do anything at all."

"What about bandages?" Asami countered. "Didn't you use them all up?"

"Don't you mean _you_ used them all up?" Kaorin growled. "Like I said, we don't have time today. We'll do it tomorrow. I think there is a clinic nearby. That's more likely to have what we need than a pharmacy."

"Clinic?" Asami squeaked. "L-let's just go to a pharmacy."

"Eh?" Kaorin cocked an eyebrow as she remembered Asami's fervent insistence not to go to a hospital. "Ah, actually we might have enough time to go by the clinic before sunset. You do need those bandages, right?"

Asami deliberately plodded back over to the cot and sat down. "That's okay. It doesn't even hurt. It-it's probably too risky to go out anyway."

"Then we'll go to the clinic tomorrow."

"No!" Asami vehemently refused. "You promised! You promised you wouldn't take me to a place like that!"

"Why do you hate it so much?" Kaorin sincerely asked.

"I just hate hospitals. Doctors," the diminutive blonde mumbled as she flopped over and faced the wall so that she wouldn't have to face Kaorin. "I hate them."

"Why?"

"They aren't like you. They get really angry when I mess up my bandages or re-break something or play with sick people," Asami explained. "I used to get hurt a lot. They always used to strap me to the bed to keep me from moving around. I hated it."

"They-they strapped you to a bed?"

"They always said it was to keep me from hurting myself or anyone else," Asami recalled. "It was the worst."

"That's horrible!"

"No, it's worse than that. It's… ah… super horrible!"

"…Oka-ay," Kaorin replied as she pulled herself to her feet. "I'm starving," she announced, eager to change the subject. Kaorin trudged over to the supplies and started setting things up to cook. "You hungry?"

"Yeah. Thirsty, too," Asami announced as she rolled over onto her back. "I think I still have a fever. I still feel kinda bad."

"You hide it well," Kaorin observed as she wondered how Asami could withstand the pain and discomfort of lying on her back with that wound.

"The best way to feel better is to forget that you feel bad," Asami countered.

"Is that… why you are so eager to always play around? It helps with the pain?" Kaorin asked as she read between the lines.

"Don't be stupid!" Asami scolded. "I wanna have fun even if I'm not hurt. Fun is fun! So it's fun!"

Kaorin sighed as she gave up on trying to understand her quirky new friend. "Any requests?" she foolishly asked as she sifted through the supplies.

"Let's do it!" Asami suggested as she rolled over and gave Kaorin a wink.

"For the last time, no!" Kaorin shouted.

"Does that mean that if I ask again you'll say yes?"

"No!"


	28. Separate Paths

-Midmorning at the police station-

"You're sure about this?" Asami queried as the two of them sat out on the police station's roof and pondered over a map of the neighborhood.

"They should have been back for me by now," Kaorin worried. "It's been weeks."

Although Asami still didn't believe that Kaorin had friends that were still alive, she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity for adventure. "It's actually been about a month since I found you," she recalled.

Asami's comment did little to put Kaorin at ease. "They went here," Kaorin explained as she pointed. "We have to figure out how to get there… without going by here," she continued as she moved her finger to where the library was.

"There's rubble all around here, too. And we can't get near any subways, either," Asami agreed as she pointed at several points on the map. "We'd have to circle around… and go north around the library and swing back south… here," she suggested as she traced the theoretical route. "It's a big detour. It'll add a day, maybe two depending on how interesting things get," the blonde asserted with a rather large smile. "It promises to be fun!"

"No," Kaorin denied. "We can't risk going around that way."

"Why not?" Asami pouted.

"It… we just can't," she asserted.

Asami growled as she stared at the map. "All this planning is stupid anyway. Let's just wing it!"

"No, we need a plan," Kaorin retorted. "If we get lost… distracted. We need to have a plan."

"Well why don't we split the library and this subway station by cutting through here?" Asami offered as she pointed to the middle of a block. "We don't have a vehicle anymore. We don't have to stick to the streets."

"But… the smaller bugs," Kaorin protested. "There's rubble all around there, too. We might run into a dead end."

"Bugs're easy to kill so long as you don't attract attention from a nest," Asami argued. "And there ain't a whole lot that can completely block the path of a person. We don't even have the scooter anymore, remember? We just gotta lug what we can carry and hopefully it won't stop us from getting through the rubble."

"I told you that you couldn't recharge the scooter's battery that way," Kaorin scolded Asami.

"How was I supposed to know it'd catch on fire and explode?"

"I told you that was what would happen! You said, 'Cool!' and did it anyway!" Kaorin snapped.

"It was pretty cool, wasn't it?"

Kaorin half-sighed, half-growled. "There has to be another way. It's too risky."

"Risky is fun," Asami argued. "This way we'll get there and only have to worry about finding one shelter, too. Unless it rains or something."

"There really isn't another option is there?"

"Don't worry! Bugs're my specialty!" Asami boasted. "I'm invincible."

"All right, I guess we can pack up and head out tomorrow," Kaorin conceded.

"Why wait? I always have my exploring stuff ready to go," Asami whined. "It won't take twenty minutes to pack up everything else. It's not even ten in the morning, and either way we gotta stay the night somewhere."

Kaorin bit her lip. "You're not going to let me off the hook, are you?"

"Like I'd let you say no just 'cause you're scared!"

"Let's hurry up and pack," Kaorin urged as she grabbed the map and headed for the stairwell.

Asami laughed as she followed after Kaorin. "You've made a lot of progress, Kaori!" she praised. "It used to take me a lot of work just to get you out of the cell. Now I've finally convinced you to go exploring! It'll be tons of fun, you'll see!"

"I'm only going because my friends are there," Kaorin claimed.

"It doesn't matter! You'll see how fun exploring is and then we'll be doing it all the time!" Asami predicted. "It'll be great!"

"Let's just get this over with."

-A couple of hours later-

The unlikely duo stopped a few blocks shy of the infamous library. "I think this is about where we are supposed to cut through a few blocks," Kaorin suggested as she stopped in her tracks. She turned around and dug into the large bag of luggage she'd been dragging behind her to retrieve the map.

As Kaorin sprawled the map out and studied it Asami dove into her own supplies to retrieve a bag of jerky. "We got so lucky at that convenience store!" Asami exclaimed as she tore the bag open and sunk her teeth into the tough meat.

"Stay focused," Kaorin scolded as she studied the map.

"Ish is heigh," Asami pointed as she ferociously gnawed on the jerky. "Hon eeda hap er at."

"Just because you're right doesn't mean we don't need a map," Kaorin complained as she put the map away. She then lit cigarette before offering the pack to Asami. "If we're going through those alleys we'll need to be prepared. Quit eating and let's get this over with."

"Hou shaughd eah hirsh," Asami countered before swallowing. "You haven't eaten since breakfast, right? It's lunchtime. You should eat. Keep your energy up." She then held the bag of jerky towards Kaorin. "Want some? It's awesome."

"I guess we could use a small break," Kaorin conceded as she glanced towards the ominous alleyway. "Let me finish this cigarette and we'll eat," she decided as she plodded over to nearby car and sat against it for the shade that it offered.

Asami annoyingly jumped on top of the same car to get a better view of the area. "You're not supposed to actually smoke those, you know," she scolded as she glanced about. "It's more dangerous than the bugs."

"You're the one that got me started," Kaorin spat.

"I told you not to breathe the smoke. You didn't listen to—Ah! A bug!"

Kaorin launched to her feet at the warning. "Where?" she hissed as she followed Asami's gaze in the direction of the library.

"One crawled by just now," Asami stated as she kept her eyes and ears open. "Three blocks down. I don't think it noticed us."

"What do we do?" Kaorin defaulted to Asami's judgment.

"I wanna stalk it," Asami admitted, "but that's the opposite way we need to go. Besides, aren't we taking a break?" she asked as she sat down on top of the car and started chewing on her jerky again.

"We aren't going to sit here and relax with bugs nearby!" Kaorin hissed. "We're going now! We can eat later!"

"Hinne," The blonde replied as she stashed the jerky into a pocket and pulled out her own cigarettes. After finishing her mouthful she lit a cigarette and pulled out a few flashing fireworks. "Let's go!" she boisterously announced as she leapt off of the car, grabbed her luggage, and dashed headlong into the alley. As she rushed in it became apparent that something was horribly, horribly wrong. "There ain't any bugs here!" she whined as Kaorin caught up.

"That's a good thing!" Kaorin scolded as she frantically scanned the alley walls for any signs of bugs.

The duo made it out the other side of the alley and to the street without incident. "Well that was pointless," Asami complained.

"N-no," Kaorin countered as she pulled out the map again. "We passed through the debris that was blocking the road. Now we can go down this way and continue to Toudai. No library, no subways. We're in the clear, for now."

"How boring," Asami grumbled as the two girls set back onto their path.

"We aren't doing this because it's supposed to be fun," Kaorin uselessly asserted. "I'm worried about my friends."

Asami sighed and pouted. She was convinced that Kaorin was delusional about her friends. The excitable girl was actually a little worried about what Kaorin would do once reality revealed itself to her. "It must've been nice to have a bunch of friends like that," Asami mumbled as she recalled the countless stories Kaorin had about her friends in high school.

"It was fun back when we were in school," Kaorin admitted. "…not so much after the outbreak."

"You're lucky," Asami claimed. "At least you had friends."

"You're saying that you didn't have any friends in school?" Kaorin gently prodded.

"I've never really had any friends, just family. They're all gone now."

"You've never had a friend, ever?" Kaorin puzzled.

Asami shook her head. "Everyone always hated me."

"I don't hate you," Kaorin confessed after a couple of seconds of silence. "You are my friend… right?"

Asami blushed. "A-ah, I-well I guess," she awkwardly replied.

Kaorin couldn't help but to giggle at the sight. "You're pretty cute when you're embarrassed," she teased. "Well, if you just look at your face and ignore the whole topless thing. The scars." Kaorin added as an afterthought.

"It's hot," Asami defended herself.

"I find it hard to believe that you have never had a friend, though," Kaorin steered the conversation back on track. "You can be really annoying, but I can think of a few people you'd get along with really well."

"It ain't about personality. It never is," Asami contended. "Even with a completely different personality, people still hated me just as much."

"You can't just swap personalities."

"Dying helps," the blonde asserted. "Before that I used to be really shy and quiet."

"That's… hard to believe."

Asami nodded. "My personality doesn't have anything to do with it. Everyone hates me because of the way I look."

"So long as you keep your clothes on, you're super-cute," Kaorin assured. "It seems to me that someone like that would have been really popular in school."

"Whenever I'd go to a new school everyone would ask me where I'm from or compliment me on my mastery of Japanese. No matter how much I told them that I was Japanese they wouldn't believe me. Just because I look different. After a while everyone would always come to hate me. They'd always call me a foreigner and a liar. But… I'm Japanese. I really am."

"What is your heritage?" Kaorin gingerly asked. "You have to have some sort of foreigner as an ancestor, right?"

"That-that doesn't matter! I'm Japanese!" Asami vehemently defended herself. "I was born here! I've lived here my whole life! It's not fair… just because of how I look. What else am I supposed to be?" she lamented before angrily grabbing a handful of her golden hair and bringing it in front of her face as she fought back tears. "Stupid hair… stupid eyes…"

"It's not like it matters anymore," Kaorin offered. "We're all just survivors now, right?"

"That's not the point!" Asami hotly countered. "I'm Japanese!"

"I never said you weren't," Kaorin backed down as she realized that she needed to choose her words more carefully. "A-anyway, pretty much anyone and everyone that bullied you is dead now, right? You get the last laugh. You're Japanese. They are citizens of the other world."

Asami pouted. "I guess you're right. But I never got to prove that I was right and rub it in their faces."

"I don't envy anyone that gets on your bad side."

"Especially now that I have a gun and no laws to say it's not okay to blow off body parts!"

-Later that afternoon near the library-

"All right, it looks like we're clear," Chihiro announced as she peered out of the bus's gun port for any remaining insects. "Anyone see any more bugs?"

"Nothing but corpses," Yomi announced.

"None here, either," Kagura sounded off.

"They're all dead," Osaka confirmed.

"I don't see any, either," Hiro called out as he stood in the driver's seat to see out the windshield.

"Okay, let's hope everything goes according to plan," Chihiro prayed as she slammed her gun port shut.

"Maybe we should wait for the sun to be on our side to do this," Yomi hesitated as she kept her eyes locked on the library before reluctantly shutting her gun port.

"That'll set us back a day," Chihiro refuted as she moved to the center of the bus and climbed the ladder there. "We're doing this now," she asserted as she opened the trapdoor to the roof and climbed out. Her footsteps sounded for a few seconds on the roof before she stuck her head back through the trapdoor. "It's all clear! Pass 'em up!"

"Right," Kagura acknowledged as she grabbed a nearby crate. The crate was loaded down with several capped bottles that clanged with each little movement Kagura made.

Chihiro, Kagura, and Yomi worked together to hoist two such crates up onto the bus's roof. After getting the boxes up to the roof, they carried one to each end of the bus and set them down next to a new addition to the bus. Fixtures made of scrap metal and wood were bolted down to the armored bus's roof. Surgical tubing and leather were attached to the fixtures to make large, bulky slingshots.

"Okay, Osaka and I will man this slingshot," Chihiro announced from her position at the rear of the bus. "Kagura, you and Yomi take care of the one at the front. Hiro, you just keep an eye for any bugs that might show up."

"Right," the group collectively replied.

Chihiro plucked a bottle from the crate and turned it to reveal a storm match taped to the bottle. "Remember, after you light the match, you need to keep the flame away from the other bottles and try not to burn the tubing on the slingshots," she announced as she passed the bottle over to Osaka and circled around the slingshot. "Don't light it until you're ready… to release," she grunted as she pulled the slingshot back. "Be sure to aim for the windows."

Osaka gingerly placed the bottle into the sling and lit the match, prompting Chihiro to release it. The bottle sailed through the air before crashing to the street a few meters short of the library. The moment the bottle shattered, a fireball erupted as the fuel inside the bottle ignited. "Go!" Chihiro barked. "We need to torch that building so we can go get Kaorin!"

Yomi and Kagura followed suit and began launching firebombs at the library. While the first few shots missed their mark entirely, the two groups managed to hone in their attacks and strike at the library's walls. The burning fuel and impact caused many of the smaller bugs to storm out of the building in a panic. They hissed and screeched at the searing flames and choking smoke, completely unaware of the bus even as more petrol bombs rained down.

One of the glass bottles scored a direct hit on one of the insects. It shattered on impact with the insect's exoskeleton, drenching the monster in burning fuel. The beast roared as it ran about in a futile attempt to flee the inferno. It instinctively tried to retreat into the library, but as it approached the threshold it was met with a brutal assault from its own kin. The insects showed a surprising amount of cognition as they slew the burning bug to prevent it from spreading the flames into the nest.

"We need to hit the windows!" Chihiro hissed after witnessing the insect get ripped apart. "This is all for naught if we can't destroy the nest!"

"I know that!" Yomi shot back in a hushed tone, not wanting to give the panicked bugs a reason to target the bus. It took several launches to hone in on the sweet spot, but Yomi managed to land the first direct hit as a petrol bomb sailed through one of the second story windows.

"Good hit!" Chihiro praised. "See if you can hit different windows. We need to make sure that nest burns."

In spite of their efforts, the two groups failed to send another firebomb through a window before they ran out. Having used up all of the petrol bombs, the women retreated back into the bus to observe the situation from a more secure position. "It's definitely on fire," Yomi commented as the group observed flames rising out of the window she had landed a firebomb in.

"Look at all that smoke," Kagura marveled. "It's really driving them out." True to Kagura's word, the number of insects fleeing the building had exploded, even if most of the insects were reluctant to go very far from their burning home.

"I wanted them to all die," Chihiro complained. "But I guess this is enough. So long as we can go get Kaorin in the morning."

"What's the difference?" Yomi enquired.

"If they all burned to death then we would have a way to easily clear Tokyo of those damned monsters," Chihiro explained. "If they scamper off to live another day then it's going to be hell trying to get rid of them."

Yomi sighed. "I guess that would've been the better scenario."

"Wow! Look at that!" Kagura exclaimed as all at once the bugs started to stampede away from the burning library.

"Abandon ship, huh?" Chihiro noted as she watched the insects move en masse across the street and into the shade provided by the buildings there.

"They're carryin' something," Osaka noted.

"Huh?" the rest of the group voiced their confusion as they tried to see through the surging insects in the dwindling light.

"It's eggs!" Hiro exclaimed.

-At about that time-

"We need to stop and find shelter before it gets too dark," Kaorin urged as the sky began to turn shades yellow, orange, and red.

"I guess," Asami agreed as she ran towards a nearby truck and clambered her way to the top of it. "What kind of place you wanna stay at?" she asked as she stood on her toes and scanned the area.

"Whatever is most secure," Kaorin predictably requested.

"You're so boring," Asami complained before she pointed down the street. "It looks like that house is all boarded up. It might be good."

"Let's check it out," Kaorin affirmed as she set out in the direction Asami had indicated.

Sure enough, the unlikely duo happened upon a modestly sized house that had all of its windows boarded up. It also sported a rather sturdy-looking front door. The odds of it being occupied by any people seemed farfetched considering that vines and weeds seemed to be wrapping up the building in a deliberate attempt to crush the structure. That didn't stop Asami from marching up to the door and fervently pounding on it. "Anybody home?" Asami called out as loud as she could as the small blonde continued to harass the door. "Open up!"

"D-don't do that!" Kaorin hissed as she glanced about for any unwelcome guests Asami's noise may have attracted.

"It's abandoned," Asami relented after spitefully kicking the door a couple of times. "Let's make ourselves at home, shall we?" she suggested with a wide grin as she lit a flashlight attached to her gun. "Ready?"

Kaorin inched over next to Asami as she turned on her own light. "O-okay."

"Let's go!" Asami announced as tried the handle, only to discover it locked. After uselessly pushing and pulling on the heavy door for a few moments Asami went back to kicking it. "Open! Up! Damn! You!" she grunted as she emphasized each word with a kick to the door.

"It's no use. Let's just find another place," Kaorin urged as she switched off her flashlight. "We don't have any time to waste."

"Oh, hell no!" Asami refused. "It's on!" She then leaped away from the door and grabbed her heirloom shotgun from her luggage in exchange for the rifle she had obtained from the warehouse. A few slugs easily mangled the door's lock. "How's that?" the blonde shouted before kicking the door again. This time the door came open… barely. A chain prevented the door from opening more than a crack. "Grah!" Asami grunted in frustration as she fired her shotgun recklessly until the chain broke and the door swung open. Quickly swapping weapons again, Asami charged into the darkened interior without even taking the time to turn on the rifle's flashlight.

"W-wait!" Kaorin pleaded as she struggled to switch her light back on. By the time Kaorin was ready to enter, Asami had completely vanished. _Where did she go?_ Kaorin panicked as she tentatively shone her light inside. "A-Asami?" she tried to shout, but the words came out in just over a whisper. Summoning her courage, Kaorin cautiously stepped into the building. "Asami, where are you?"

"It's all clear!" Asami's voice rang out from deep within the structure. "Get our stuff and close the door!"

Kaorin breathed a sigh of relief as she slowly turned back to the door. Pulling the door open to leave, Kaorin stopped dead in her tracks. A bug was skulking around on the street. It was attracted by Asami's ruckus, no doubt. Kaorin held her breath and raised her firearm. Just as she was about to squeeze off a round, the sounds of nearby gunshots rang out. Startled, Kaorin instantly ducked back into the house. She cautiously peered around the doorway as she tried to catch her breath and steady her heart.

"I got it!" Asami voice triumphantly boasted.

Kaorin chanced a peed outside to spy the corpse of the bug. _It was just Asami_ she realized as she cautiously took a step out of the building. "You scared me to death!" Kaorin yelled, not sure where Asami was.

"You'd better not be a zombie!" Asami retorted as she finally appeared to give Kaorin a hand with bringing in the supplies.

"Wrong apocalypse," Kaorin grumbled as the duo worked together to get everything inside. "More importantly, what do we do about this?" she asked as she grabbed the door. Asami's unjustified rancor had reduced what was left of the doorknob and locks to gnarled and useless hunks of metal. "We can't stay here if we can't seal this up."

"It's not a problem," Asami dismissed. "We can just put something heavy in the way. Like a fridge!"

"Do-do you really think that's enough?"

"Probably," Asami offhandedly remarked as she set her weapon down in exchange for a battery powered lantern from one of the bags. "Let's find the kitchen first."

Kaorin hesitated. "Find? I thought you said the house was all clear?"

"There isn't any light shining in so there ain't any holes big enough for bugs to get through," Asami sagaciously observed. "And if there were any in here they'd have tried to bust down the door with all that noise I made."

"Y-you're sure?"

"Back before everything went to shit, I was never really the best at anything. Not anymore! Ain't a soul alive that knows how to hunt and kill bugs better than me!" Asami boasted. "I also know a few tricks to manipulate 'em, too," she added as they found the kitchen. Asami made a bee line for the cupboards. "Find some cleaners. Bleach, ammonia, drain cleaner. The smellier and deadlier the better."

After gathering the requested chemicals, Asami led Kaorin back to the front door. "When it comes to bugs, there are only three senses you gotta look out for; sight, smell, and sound. They've got killer eyesight, but their hearing really sucks. You have to really make a ruckus to get their attention, so you don't have to worry about noise too much," Asami explained as she carried a jug of bleach to the end of the walkway where the giant bug's carcass was while Kaorin hung back at the entryway. "They've got pretty good smell, even if they do smell with these," she elaborated as she kicked one of the dead bug's antennae. "So if you want to hide, just just need to stay out of sight and cover your scent. If you do that they won't bother you at all, even if you're a little noisy." Asami then proceeded to demonstrate by liberally splashing the caustic liquid in front of her as she shuffled backwards towards the house. "I'm not sure if it masks our smell or if they just really hate the smell of this shit, but either way they'll leave us alone all night."

Kaorin quickly adopted an angry expression. "Then why didn't we do this at the police station?"

"Eh?" Asami raised an eyebrow as she carelessly discarded the jug and started back to the doorstep for more cleaners. "That's stupid. The bars worked just fine at keeping the crawlies at bay."

"That's besides the point!" Kaorin asserted. "It's terrifying! We could have been safer!"

"Not really," Asami argued as she started dumping more chemicals on the walk. "After all, there were no doors in that police station. Even if they weren't able to follow a scent they might just wander in."

"Didn't you just say that they don't like the smell?" Kaorin pressed.

"I don't know," Asami dodged. "All I know is that if I do this the bugs usually leave me alone no matter where I decide to spend the night."

Kaorin sighed in resignation as she sat down on the stoop. "So why didn't we do it at the police station?"

"That place was huge! And you gotta spread this crap out every day. It seemed like a lot of trouble when the bars worked just as well."

"So what's plan B?" Kaorin halfheartedly queried.

"Plan B?"

"If this doesn't work, what will we do?" Kaorin elaborated.

"This'll work. Don't worry," Asami assured.

"If it doesn't?" Kaorin persisted.

Asami shrugged. "We'll play it by ear. After all, isn't it more fun when you don't know the script?"

"I'd rather be safe!" Kaorin regained her fire as she stood.

"I told you: this'll work," Asami repeated herself as she reached the stoop. "Now move, I gotta soak this and we're done."

Kaorin disdainfully retreated back into the house. "I'm coming up with a plan B."

"If you do, don't tell me what is," Asami requested. "You might spoil the ending for me."

A couple of hours later the duo remained undisturbed even as the nightly cacophony of bug legs clattering and echoing screeches grew to an uncomfortable din. "It's really loud," Kaorin complained as she sat on an old mattress the duo had dragged into the kitchen.

"We must be pretty close to a nest," Asami surmised as she dug through the barren cabinets for the hundredth time in the vain hope of finding something she had missed.

"Don't tell me that," Kaorin whimpered.

"If they haven't found us by now, then they ain't gonna," Asami assured. "Like I said; they suck at hearing. They're making a lot of noise, too. So we can make all the noise we want and nobody will bother us," she finished in a seductive manner.

"I refuse," Kaorin preemptively shot Asami down.

Asami pouted. "Why? Ain't I cute?"

"Kid or not, you really look like one," Kaorin pointed out the obvious. "You might be small and cute, but you're covered in scars. That's not cute at all. Neither is your attitude."

"Scars're awesome!" Asami proclaimed. "And what's attitude gotta do with sex? It's just fun."

Asami grinned. "I get it," she teased. "Kaori's embarrassed because she's a virgin!"

"I'm not a virgin!" Kaorin viscerally snapped back.

"Eh? And you don't like it?" Asami queried as she adopted a puzzled look. "That guy must've sucked in the sack."

"Drop it," Kaorin dodged as she fumbled through her pocket, retrieved a cigarette, and brought it to her lips. As Kaorin lit it Asami abandoned her scurrying about and sat across from Kaorin. The tiny blonde crossed her arms over her bare chest and tilted her head from side to side. "What are you doing?" Kaorin pressed after taking a drag.

"I'm trying to come up with a way to 'drop it,' but still keep talking about it," Asami unabashedly admitted.

"I mean it," Kaorin warned. "Just drop it."

"Fine," Asami grunted. "So what do you wanna talk about?"

"I just…" Kaorin started before sighing. "Just let me finish this cigarette and let's go to bed. All I want is to see everyone again."

Asami hung her head as she felt a pang of guilt. "Hey… I didn't wanna bring this up—I should have brought it up sooner," she uncharacteristically fumbled as she scratched the back of her head and avoided eye contact. "What'll you do if there nobody there? Have you prepared yourself for something like that? I mean, you said it yourself that they should have come for you a long time ago, right?"

"They will be there!" Kaorin vehemently asserted.

"What if they aren't?" Asami persisted.

Kaorin was silent a moment as she glared at Asami through the darkness. "Then I'll look elsewhere. If they aren't there then I'll look everywhere," she seriously claimed.

"Well, I'll follow ya to the ends of the earth," the blonde stated her support. "That's where I draw the line, though."

"You won't follow me to hell?" Kaorin asked half-jokingly. "It seems like that would be your cup of tea."

"Ah… hell might be fun," Asami played along. "Killing monsters is getting a little old. Maybe demons and devils'll give me a good challenge."

"The minions of hell will take one look at you and run away."

"Damn right!"


	29. Desperation

-Midmorning at the police station-

Yomi brought the bus to a stop right in front of the police station. As soon as the hulking vehicle was parked, the brunette bolted from the driver's seat. In only a few moments she had the heavy locks undone and pushed the door open in spite of Chihiro's protests. "Kaorin! We're back! Kaorin!" Yomi shouted as she disembarked the armored bus.

"Damn it Yomi!" Chihiro grabbed Yomi by the arm as soon as she caught up to her. "I'm as eager as anyone, but just jumping out like that is dangerous. What if you had been ambushed by a bug?"

"Your concern is appreciated," she sarcastically spat as she wrenched her arm free and hurriedly headed into the station.

Chihiro resigned her trepidation as she started after Yomi. "Let's go!" she barked as the rest started off the bus.

The group caught up with Yomi as she stood and stared despondently at the familiar jail cell. They all gathered around to see the same disturbing sight. The cell was left open with nothing more left inside it but a single box filled with garbage. Even more disturbing was the fact that any and all concrete surfaces under one and a half meters were completely covered in chalk doodles. "Wh-what happened? Where is she?" Kagura asked as she stepped into the cell.

"Kaorin! Kaorin!" Yomi desperately shouted as she took off aimlessly.

"Split up and find her!" Chihiro barked as she darted after Yomi. "Don't go anywhere alone!"

Over an hour later, a defeated Yomi and Chihiro returned to the cell to find Kagura, Osaka, and Hiro waiting. "You… did you find anything?" Chihiro desperately asked.

Osaka and Kagura shook their heads as Hiro just kept his gaze downcast. "We couldn't find anything," Kagura said. "We were hoping that maybe she left a message or something behind here… but there's nothing. The drawings are just… they're drawings."

"Damn it!" Chihiro cursed as she turned and punched the nearest wall. Her raw emotions unabated, she withdrew her fist from the concrete slab before slamming it into the wall again and again. "Damn it!" she cursed again as she shook her hand. The seething woman then looked to her hand to find most of the skin on her knuckles shredded by the rough surface.

Kagura grabbed a kit out of her backpack, picked herself up off of the cot, and headed to Chihiro's side. "Don't be so hard on yourself," she mumbled as she put the kit into Yomi's hands and plucked a packet of antibacterial cream from it.

Chihiro leaned against the wall and slid down it until she was in a sitting position before holding her hand for Kagura to tend to it. "Why shouldn't I?" Chihiro challenged as she allowed Kagura to apply the cool yet stinging gel to her hand. "I knew I should have dragged her along with us—kicking and screaming if it came down to it."

"I… I'm the one that fought for her to stay, remember?" Kagura pointed out as she turned to get gauze from the kit only to find Yomi still standing in the same position, still as a statue. Giving out a long sigh, Kagura rose to her feet and pried the first-aid kit from Yomi's hands. "If you want someone to blame, blame me," she shouldered the responsibility as she began to wrap up Chihiro's bloody knuckles. "I… I really thought that it was for the best…"

"Wh-what? Was I holding something?" Yomi asked as she looked down to her empty hands.

"Welcome back," most of the group chimed in unison—a habit that they had developed to let Yomi know after she had suffered a seizure.

"Damn it," the brunette cursed as she struggled in vain to figure out where she lost her awareness.

"Anyway," Kagura loudly announced as she gathered up the first-aid kit. "I don't think we should give up hope just yet. It looks like she packed up and left. There isn't anything left here but garbage."

"There ain't any bones or nothin' either," Osaka morbidly added.

Chihiro grunted as she pulled herself off of the floor. "That doesn't mean anything. Something could have happened to her while she was getting supplies. We didn't leave her much." Letting out another sigh, Chihiro took in all of the chalk doodles. "I can't believe she drew all this."

"This ain't tha half of it," Osaka asserted. "Y'all should see tha other cell. The entire floor's a neat lookin' drawing."

Yomi was compelled to go check it out while Chihiro just moved over to sit on the cot. "Why would she draw this stuff?"

"You idiots!" Yomi barked from the other cell. The group collectively started to move to the other cell as she shouted again, "This is a map!" At those words the entire group rushed over only to be stopped from entering the cell by Yomi. "Don't mess it up by walking on it," she warned as she pointed to the floor. "Maybe Kaorin drew where she went to."

"It's a map," Chihiro agreed as she looked at the floor. "It's not labeled though. I can't tell what it's a map of."

Yomi studied the map for a time. "There aren't any words on it?"

Chihiro shook her head. "There aren't. Where's Chiyo when you need her. She'd probably figure out exactly what this map is in an instant."

"I really thought… it was just a doodle," Kagura admitted as she studied the lines on the floor. "It doesn't make any sense."

"If it's a map, then the police station has to be somewhere and her destination somewhere else," Chihiro presumed. "Where does it start?" she mumbled aloud. "There's a star in the middle… lots of little squares, circles, and x's…." Chihiro abruptly turned to Osaka as a spark of brilliance granted her an idea. "Osaka! Put that camera of yours to some use. Record the entire map. We'll take the bus out and figure out what's what."

"All right," Osaka agreed as she moved to enter the cell.

"Do it carefully!" Yomi warned. "Try to get top down shots and don't step on anything until after you've recorded it, okay?"

"Sure," Osaka agreed as she leaned into cell.

-Early afternoon not too far from Toudai-

"This is futile!" Kaorin yelled over the gunfire as she slammed a fresh clip into her rifle.

"Fun usually is!" Asami excitedly replied as she tossed out another flashing firework to cover her own reload. As the bright flashes began, no fewer than four giant insects fell upon it.

Kaorin seized the opportunity to cripple a couple of them, quickly emptying her clip into their vulnerable sides. "This isn't for fun!" she shouted as she brought a firework of her own to the stub of a cigarette in her mouth, eliciting a spray of sparks as the fuse lit. "We've gotta get to Toudai somehow!"

"This route ain't gonna cut it!" Asami yelled as she deftly executed the rest of the small group. "As fun as it is killing crawlies, we ain't got the ammo to keep this up."

"Let's get out of here before more show up!" Kaorin desperately urged.

The duo retreated together a couple of blocks away and took shelter where a pickup truck had slammed into a building's wall, creating a small corner to hide in. Kaorin sat with her back to the spot where the engine and wall met while Asami sat on top of the truck so she could survey the area. "It doesn't look like anything is giving chase," Asami noted. "How boring."

"Just… hurry up and reload," Kaorin scolded as she refilled her own spent clips one round at a time. "We've got to find another route."

Asami instead dumped her spent clips down onto Kaorin. "'One of us has to keep an eye out'," the undersized blonde did her best impression of Kaorin. Although Asami registered some sort of complaint from her friend, she paid it no mind as she stood as tall as she could. "You know, our best bet would probably be to get to the roof of one of these tall buildings. We could survey the area and find a good route… and snipe some bugs!"

"I hate going into buildings," Kaorin feebly protested. "Between bugs lurking inside, structural damage from the quakes, and you setting them on fire… it just doesn't seem like a safe route."

"Come on. I set _one_ on fire," Asami claimed.

"That I know of," Kaorin accused.

"Hey, fire is fun. Just gotta not burn to death," Asami defended herself. "Ah! Have you heard the noises a bug makes when it's burning to death? It's awesome!"

"Let's try not to torch anything today, all right?"

"You can be so boring, Kaori," Asami complained as she jumped down off of the truck. "Anyway, you got a better idea?" Before Kaorin had a chance to respond, Asami continued. "Didn't think so. So hurry up and refill those clips so we can go snipe some crawlies."

"Our goal is to get to Toudai! Not to entertain you!" Kaorin bit back as she climbed to her feet, marched over to Asami, and shoved her clips into her arms. "Not that it takes much to entertain you," she remarked in a deadpan tone.

Asami didn't even hear the last part as she swung her freshly reloaded rifle about and pretended to shoot things. "Pew pew!"

"Come on," Kaorin resigned as she led the way towards the tallest building in sight.

It took Asami no time whatsoever to regain the lead. "Atta girl! Let's go hunting!"

"Just try not to set this one on fire," Kaorin begged as they left their supplies at the door and turned their flashlights on.

"No promises!" Asami teased as she quickly darted into the building.

Kaorin followed after her with little hesitation. The two women quickly swept the decrepit lobby with their flashlights for threats as they got their bearings. "No bugs?" Kaorin wondered aloud as she kept sweeping her light through the stale dust.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find something fun sooner or later," Asami reassured as she led Kaorin to the nearest stairwell.

"Great," Kaorin sarcastically replied as she moved over to the door to the stairwell. "Ready?"

"Go!"

Kaorin quickly turned the handle and pressed against the door. Nothing happened. "It's stuck!" she stated the obvious as Asami joined in and the duo tried to work together to force the door open. Their best efforts weren't good enough. "It's no use," Kaorin resigned as she stepped back from the door.

"Is there another stairwell?" Asami asked as she leapt away from the door and looked around. It didn't take her long to find an alternate route. "Over there!" she pointed.

"After you," Kaorin insisted as she swept her flashlight across the room.

"Youth before beauty, right?" she gleefully stated as she began clambering through the rubble towards the other stairwell. A couple of seconds later she stopped dead in her tracks as she facepalmed. "That's not what I meant!" she shouted in her defense. "I'm pretty too!"

"Yeah, yeah," Kaorin dismissed. "Just try to focus on making it to the roof without either of us getting killed."

"Just, come on," Asami urged as she made it to the door. This time the door easily swung open. As soon as she stepped through the door, the blonde swung her rifle up and scanned what she could see above her before rushing over to the handrail and making sure no insects lurked below. "Ugh, all clear," she complained, more than a little disappointed that there wasn't anything to shoot. Kaorin finally entered the stairwell as Asami started ascending the stairs.

"Is it weird that there don't seem to be any bugs here?" Kaorin asked.

"You really don't know anything about bugs, do you?" Asami chided as Kaorin caught up to her. "When they first showed up, those damned bugs would be everywhere that was dark. I figure that they ended up getting stuck when the sun came up. After they spread out and made nests everywhere, fewer ended up stuck in buildings. Maybe because they couldn't wander too far without straying into other crawlies' territory. Maybe they got smarter. Dunno, really."

"I don't want to hear 'they got smarter'," Kaorin shuddered.

Asami laughed. "Don't worry too much," she reassured. "They're still just animals. If anything they just figured out it's a good idea to head home when the sky starts lightening up. There's a limit to how much an animal can learn. They ain't gonna outsmart me anytime soon."

"You know a lot about those monsters," Kaorin noted. "Do you know where they came from? Just… what are they?"

"I dunno," the small girl shrugged. "They came from, uh… the southwest originally. Maybe they crawled outta Mt. Fuji!"

"Straight out of the bowels of hell—sounds about right."

"Well, this was boring," Asami complained as the duo reached the top of the stairs.

"Boring is good," Kaorin said as the two girls stepped out onto the roof.

"Let's see what we've got," Asami rushed to the nearest ledge to survey the area. "Haha! It's a war zone!"

As Kaorin cautiously approached the ledge, she peered over to find dozens of bugs fighting each other in the streets. "What on earth…."

"There must be two nests really close over there," Asami explained as she tucked her gun into her shoulder and took aim. "They'll keep fighting each other day and night until one of the nests is destroyed. The good news is that they're so worked up trying to kill each other… they won't pay us any mind so long as we don't get in their way." The blonde then exhaled all the air from her lungs before squeezing off a shot.

"What the hell?" Kaorin scolded as she turned her attention to the hordes below.

Asami fired another carefully aimed shot before responding. "Relax, like I told you: they don't give a damn about anything we do—so long as we stay out of sight. They're too busy killing each other."

Although Kaorin couldn't just allow herself to relax, she did have more important matters at hand. "Where is that building?" she mumbled aloud as Asami occasionally fired at the insects below. With little more than a vague idea of what the building looked like and what direction it was in, Kaorin anxiously walked the perimeter of the roof as she scanned the surroundings. Then she spotted it. It might have been covered in rust and scrap metal, but bits of yellow caught her eye. "It's the dozer! The bulldozer!" she shouted as she pointed.

Asami hesitated as she was about to squeeze off another shot before withdrawing the rifle and heading over to Kaorin. "Seriously?" the tiny blonde asked with more than a little skepticism in her voice.

"That big building there must be Toudai! We're not too far away!" Kaorin gushed.

"Got any ideas how to get over there?" Asami asked as she looked to the skirmishes in the streets. "That's smack dab in the middle of their little war."

"You-you're the bug expert! How do we get by?"

Asami shrugged. "I dunno."

"What do you mean 'I dunno'?" Kaorin hissed.

"We avoided the nests and stuff getting this far," Asami pointed out. "As fun as it killing crawlies, if there's too many of them we'll get dead. Unless you've got a tank, we ain't getting through to there."

"There has to be a way," Kaorin persisted.

"Without us being a delightful, screaming snack? Not gonna happen."

Kaorin stared at the building in despair. It was right there, but it was completely out of her reach. "Maybe… is there a way to circle around and approach from the other side?"

The desperate proposal was rejected with a shake of Asami's head. "It looks like the battlefield extends beyond that building."

"C-come on, you can do anything," Kaorin practically begged as she kept her gaze locked on the tall building. "It's right there…."

-Back on the streets of Tokyo an armored bus is surrounded by countless insect corpses-

On board the familiar bus, the vast majority of the girls were panting as the struggled to reload their weapons. "Maybe-maybe we misread it," Yomi suggested. "Are we really sure the star was the police station."

"Look, I just-I don't know, but from now on we avoid the symbols with a cross in a circle," Chihiro announced.

"We figured out that x's are blocked roads, right?" Kagura pointed out. "So that means we're reading it right."

"I-I really hate to say this, but it's been bothering me for a while now. How could Kaorin have made that map?" Yomi gravely asked. "It would have taken weeks of exploring to make something so elaborate."

"Maybe somebody else drew it," Osaka suggested as the group scrutinized the map recording on her camcorder. "A kid or somethin'."

"A kid? Like me?" Hiro asked as he tried to catch a glimpse of the tiny screen through the crowd.

"Why do you say a kid?" Chihiro echoed the boy's sentiment.

"Tha artist can't be all that tall," Osaka claimed as she paused the video and pointed to a frame with Chihiro and Yomi standing next to a wall covered chalk doodles. "It don't even come up tah y'all's shoulders."

Chihiro forcibly grabbed the camera to hold it right in front of her face. Her expression quickly warped from confusion to anger as she realized that Osaka was right. "This… this…"

"Give me that!" Yomi demanded as she snatched the camera. The bespectacled brunette held the camera back for Kagura and Hiro to get a good look as well. "Osaka's right," she grunted.

"S-so what does this mean?" Kagura puzzled. "If Kaorin didn't draw it, who did?"

"A guest or a squatter," Yomi spat. "I'm hoping it's the former."

"Does this mean the map—" Kagura started, only to be cut off by Chihiro.

"We're on a damned wild goose chase!" Chihiro snapped as she stomped towards the driver's seat. She only sat there for a couple of seconds before furiously attacking the steering wheel and everything else within her reach. "God dammit!"

Kagura bit her lip as she looked to a seething Yomi. "We can't… just give up. There has to be something we can do."

Yomi didn't say anything as she shoved her way past Kagura. She marched up to Chihiro and yanked her out of the driver's seat before Chihiro could get the engine started. "We're not giving up!" Yomi sternly announced. "We still have places on the map to look! I don't care if it is a long shot! It's the only lead we've got!"

"And you want to throw it away?" Chihiro bit back as her usual confidence quickly melted away. "If we check everywhere on the map then… then we'll have to assume that she's… Kaorin is… gone."

"Yeah, well… too bad," Kagura ineloquently argued. "We still have to check everything… everywhere! What if she's in trouble and needs our help?"

Chihiro grit her teeth as she climbed back into the driver's seat. "I just… I—"

"I don't want to think about it, either," Yomi spoke up as Chihiro choked. "Let's just focus on deciphering the map, okay?"

"Fine," Chihiro grunted as she started the engine. "Where to?"

-Somewhere in the city streets-

"Shit!" Kaorin screamed as she grabbed her rifle's bolt and struggled in vain to pull it back. "It's jammed!"

Asami quickly threw a flashing firework before ducking under her rifle's strap. "Here!" she shoved her rifle into Kaorin's hands before snatching her shotgun from her nearby luggage. After pumping a shell into the chamber, the undersized blonde quickly fired a slug into a bug getting dangerously close to Kaorin as the confused woman struggled to drop her jammed rifle so she could use Asami's. "Keep at it!"

As soon as the inoperable weapon clattered to the ground, Kaorin pressed another firework's wick to her cigarette. Once the sparks hissed to life, she tossed the tiny object at the small cluster of insects around Asami's firework. She then emptied what was left of the clip as Asami kept shooting any interlopers that crawled out of the shadows. After dropping the clip, she foolishly tried to jam one of her own clips into the weapon. "Damn it all! I don't have your ammo!" Kaorin scolded as she let the rifle drop to her side and drew her sidearm. "We need a plan!" she shouted as she began to fire at any of the many insects that kept coming out of the woodwork.

Asami grabbed Kaorin's wrist as she ran by. "This way!" she ordered as she dropped a couple of flashing fireworks to cover their retreat. The small girl led Kaorin to a nearby overturned truck. "Squeeze in there," Asami ordered as she shoved Kaorin into the small space between the large vehicle's cab and trailer. The blonde followed immediately after, cramming Kaorin into the tight space.

"Wh-what the hell?" Kaorin protested. "We're trapped!"

"They won't be able to get us," Asami claimed as she awkwardly slid shells out of her pocket and into her shotgun. As she did so, the bugs swarmed on the girls' position. The first insect slammed jaws-first into the truck with enough force to leave two dents. Its jaws then snapped closed uselessly leaving scratches in the metal. Even with its jaws closed, it could not work itself into the tiny crevice. It uselessly snapped at the hunkered duo as it tilted its head, but try as it might it could not rotate its head far enough to reach inside. "See?" Asami gloated as she pumped a shell into the chamber. As the bug got clever enough to try to reach in and snare the girls with one of its legs, Asami rewarded it with a well-placed shotgun blast.

"Argh!" Kaorin shouted as she squirmed about to get her hands to her ears. "That's loud!"

"Yeah, tiny little echo chamber," Asami claimed as she worked the pump and again aimed out at the writhing insects. "Lots more where that came from."

"Good," Kaorin claimed as Asami periodically took a potshot at the insects. "I was afraid that you left most of your ammo behind."

"Uh…" Asami stammered before letting out a nervous laugh. "I guess I forgot about that. How much ammo you got?"

"Are you kidding?" Kaorin screeched. "My gun's jammed and lying in the middle of the street! This is your rifle!"

"Huh," Asami mumbled after dropping another insect. "I've got a few shells and two clips left," she announced as she tried in vain to do the math in her head. "That's like, 70 rounds for… twentyish bugs. Like ten rounds a bug, I can make that work."

"That's way off! It's more like three rounds a bug!"

Asami laughed aloud as she fired her last shell. "This is gonna be fun!"

"I've got two clips and whatever's left in my pistol. Don't you have a pistol?" Kaorin frantically tried to find a way out of the bleak situation.

"We're not that desperate!" Asami grinned as she placed her shotgun aside and tried to free her rifle from Kaorin. Loading in a fresh clip, she turned her attention back to the swarming insects. "Those pea-shooters suck at stopping the jumbo crawlies anyway." In no time Asami spent the entire clip and exchanged it for her last one. "Light up! We'll need a few flashers!"

Kaorin tentatively removed her hands from her ears and struggled to get a cigarette in her mouth and light it. "Damn it!" she cursed as Asami squeezed off a couple of shots while Kaorin had her hands off of her ears. "You're going to make me deaf!"

"Better deaf than dead," Asami claimed as she aimed straight up at an insect that was clever enough to try to approach the entrapped duo from above. One bullet through its head put the monster out of its misery. As it fell, it sealed the opening above the two with its corpse. "Go ahead and toss out some flashers! We'll get trapped in here at this rate!"

Kaorin awkwardly shuffled in the tight space to grab a few of the flashing fireworks from her pocket. She anxiously brought the wicks to her cigarette's cherry and only lit a couple of them before fumbling the lot out onto the street.

As soon as the first firework began to flash, Asami grabbed Kaorin's wrist and darted out into the street. "Come on!" she urged as she led Kaorin back towards their abandoned equipment. "Throw another."

"On it!" Kaorin agreed as she dug to the bottom of her pocket. "I only have two left!" she lamented as she lit one and threw it at the near-dozen bugs still crawling about. As soon as she had a hand free, she began taking shots at the beasts with her pistol.

Asami dropped her rifle as she picked up Kaorin's. A few seconds of vigorous tugging on the bolt and she gave up, throwing the weapon to the ground. "You really jammed it good!" the blonde shouted as she again grabbed her own rifle and headed towards her luggage. "Gimmie a few more seconds!"

"It's the last one!" Kaorin warned as she lit her final firework.

"Just do it!" Asami barked as she dumped the large bag into the street. Spying her ammo, she grabbed a box and proceeded to load bullets into her empty clips. As she shoved bullets into the clip, she kicked a bag towards Kaorin. "They'll wise up soon, but keep at it!"

Kaorin looked down to find an entire bag of the flashing fireworks. After finishing off her pistol's last clip, she scooped up the bag and tore it open. "I'm completely out of ammo! There's like ten of them left!" she warned as she tossed out another firework to keep the insects distracted.

"Here!" Asami shouted as she threw a couple of empty clips at her own feet. "Keep them distracted and load ammo for me!" The diminutive blonde then slammed a fresh clip into her weapon and dropped to a knee to steady her aim.

With Kaorin loading, Asami was able to keep up a somewhat steady assault. However, true to Asami's prediction, the flashers showed diminishing returns. One by one the bugs stopped focusing on the flashy distractions and zeroed in on the duo. Although dropping them wasn't too difficult a task for Asami, once a bug had turned to face them it took a great deal more ammo to take them down since their weak spots were no longer exposed. By the time that Asami had taken the group of insects down to five, they had all grown wise of the fireworks' dazzle. "They're coming!" Kaorin panicked as she deployed more fireworks. "The flashers aren't working!"

Asami only fired a couple of rounds before the gun stopped firing. "Clip!" she urged as she dropped the empty clip.

"Eleven!" Kaorin recited the number of rounds she had loaded.

"Not enough!" Asami warned as she slammed the clip into place and chambered a round. "We need a plan C, or D! Whatever letter we're on!" she shouted as she used the entire clip to down just one bug.

As the horde borne down upon them, Kaorin reached for her last ditch resort—a small cylinder Asami had brought back from a supply run not even a week earlier. She pulled the pin and threw the object at the insects. "Flash-bang! Cover your ears and close your eyes! NOW!"

Although caught a bit off-guard, Asami managed to shield her senses just before the disorienting overload of light and noise stopped the bugs dead in their tracks. As she opened her eyes to a blurry and soundless world, Asami spotted the bugs staggering about. In their confusion, one of the four remaining insects bit another, ripping two of its legs off. Seizing the moment without a thought's hesitation, she dropped the empty rifle as she drew her pistol and dashed right into the fray. Ducking under snapping jaws and hurdling swinging legs, Asami managed to unload her entire clip into two bugs, killing one. As she struggled to exchange clips she ran in a dead sprint away from the recovering beasts.

Her ploy worked as she dragged the remaining three away from Kaorin. The tiny girl came to a sliding stop at a rusted out old car. Not even bothering to try the handle, Asami jumped through a busted side-window. Less than two seconds after clearing the window the car gave a great lurch as the bugs caught up and slammed into the vehicle. The force sent Asami reeling as the vehicle tipped up onto its side. "Bastards!" she shouted as she tried to reorient herself. As soon as she figured out which way was up, she spied one of the insects above her. "Lucky!" she gloated as she fired two bullets into the bug's brain through the vulnerable spot on the underside of its head. Glancing about the sideways car she found that while the windscreen was fairly intact, the rear window was completely shattered. "Two on two!" she shouted as she worked her way out of the car. "Those are odds I can live with!"

The sound of gunfire drew Asami's attention towards Kaorin. She had apparently reloaded a clip while Asami had the bugs distracted. She was taking out one of the two remaining insects. "So where…" Asami spoke her thoughts aloud as she quickly looked about. The next thing she knew a loud crash urged her to do a 180 just in time to see the car crash onto its roof. "Hello ugly!" the blonde greeted the last standing bug. She unloaded several shots until the bug crawled up onto the overturned car. Asami then shifted her aim and put the rest of the clip into the gas tank. "No earth-shattering kaboom?" she mumbled aloud as her attack proved futile. The excitable girl quickly ducked away and darted towards the nearest alley. Before the bug could give chase, several shots rang out as Kaorin unloaded what was left in her clip into the soft spot on the bug's side.

Asami laughed as she loaded her last clip. "That was a blast! Too bad the gas tank didn't explode. Must've been outta gas."

Kaorin groaned as she motioned back towards the scattered gear. "We have to reload, now!"

"Yeah, yeah," Asami dismissed as she haphazardly discharged a couple more rounds into the gas tank. "I really wanted a cool explosion, though," she mourned as the gas tank failed to so much as catch fire.

"That only happens in the movies!" Kaorin shouted as she started loading again. "Get over here before more come!"

Asami looked to the tedious task of loading bullets with more than a little disdain. "I'm gonna go grab my shotgun," she claimed as she pointed to the pile of corpses around the overturned semi. "Then I'll fix your jam."

True to her word, Asami grabbed and reloaded her shotgun and cleared Kaorin's jam while her companion diligently loaded ammo into clips and repacked the scattered supplies. "So this radio station might be too close to a nest, too, given the welcome we got," the tiny teen muttered as they got prepared to move out.

"It's still a little ways from here," Kaorin argued as they worked to gather up their things. "We might not be able to get to Toudai, but if we can reach a strong enough radio, we can contact my friends and they can come and get us in the bus. This is the only shot we've got left."

Asami snickered. "Atta girl! I'll have you a spine and nerves of steel yet!"

"Let's hurry up and get on it," Kaorin ordered. "The more daylight we have when we get there the better."

"Yes ma'am!" Asami saluted as she grabbed her bag. Before she could take off, her expression rapidly changed. "Ah, company."

Kaorin instantly whirled around as she aimed down the sights of her freshly cleared rifle. Instead of a six legged beast, she found a rusty old pickup truck slowly rolling towards them. "Wha-? Who!?"

"Let's see if we can get a ride!" Asami excitedly gushed as she dragged her bag over to Kaorin before wildly waving an arm to get the driver's attention.

"We-we can't just trust some stranger!" Kaorin argued as she kept careful aim at the truck's lone inhabitant.

The truck rolled to a halt some five meters from the girls. After shutting off the engine, the man slowly opened the door as he showed his hands. He was an outstandingly average-looking guy apparently in his early thirties, although it was clear that he, like virtually everyone else, hadn't had a shower or a shave in quite some time. "Easy with that thing," he called out. "I don't want any trouble. I just-I heard the shots," he explained as he got out of the truck and surveyed the carnage. "I thought—I need help!"

"Help with what?" Asami innocuously asked as she glanced at Kaorin who was still aiming at the man. "We might be able to trade. Riding in a truck sure beats walking!"

"My friend is sick. Hurt," he explained. "I need medicine and bandages. I'll run you two commandos anywhere if you can get me some. Hell, I'll give you the truck!"

"Put that down," Asami hissed at Kaorin before turning back to the man. "We've got plenty of that crap. There's a radio station not too far from here. Take us there and we'll give you as much as you need." The small blonde then put a hand on Kaorin's barrel to force her to lower the weapon. "All right?"

"Radio station?" the man repeated as he tentatively lowered his hands.

Asami pointed to her friend. "She wants to broadcast a message so her friends can find us."

"I-I actually just came from there. That's where my friend is," he informed the small blonde. "None of the equipment works, though. The generators won't run."

Asami turned to Kaorin, "You can fix cars, can you do generators?"

"We shouldn't trust this guy," Kaorin urged. "We can find our own way."

"We end up at the same place anyways," Asami dismissed. She then turned back to the mystery man. "We'll figure something out once we get there."

"S-sure, um… topless girl," he offered as he motioned back to the truck. "Hop in. I'm Masato, by the way."

"Topless girl?" Asami muttered as she looked down to her bare chest. She then pulled her bag in front of her and threw on a simple, white T-shirt. "I'm Asami, killer of all things with too many legs. This fuddy-duddy is Kaori. She's a little high strung, but she's got a good heart."

"Nice to meet you," he greeted before glancing over at a glowering Kaorin. "M-more or less. Let's get the hell out of here before any bugs show up," Masato urged as he looked around at the piles of corpses. "Although… it doesn't look like you two would have any problems killing a thousand of them. It's really amazing."

"It's been forever since I had a car ride!" Asami beamed as she dashed over to the truck and tossed her bag into the back. She then grabbed her heirloom shotgun and held it in the air. "Shotgun!" she shouted as she moved to the passenger door.

Kaorin cautiously approached the vehicle as Masato entered the driver's seat. She pulled the blonde aside and whispered to her, "We can't trust this guy. It could be a trap!"

"If he tries anything we'll just shoot him and take his stuff," Asami dismissed. "It's a win-win."

Kaorin was caught off-guard by Asami's seemingly nonchalant statement. "You'll kill him? Just like that?"

"I don't know this guy," Asami muttered. "If he tries anything weird, he won't breathe long enough to get a second chance to try anything fishy."

"… Be careful," Kaorin urged as she reluctantly tossed her luggage into the truck bed before climbing in herself.

"We're all set!" Asami excitedly announced as she opened the passenger door and climbed into the cab.

Masato turned the vehicle on before opening the rear window. "You ready back there?"

"Yeah," Kaorin curtly replied as she kept her resentful gaze locked on Masato.

"Hang on," he called back as he put the truck in gear.

"Man, I can't believe you've lasted this long without a gun," Asami commented as she toyed with her shotgun.

"I-I do have a gun," he claimed. "Two of them. In the glove box."

Asami pulled the glove box open without a moment's hesitation. She found two identical revolvers and grabbed one of them. She popped the cylinder out to find that it held a measly five rounds. "You've been fighting bugs with these pea-shooters?" she mocked as she snapped the cylinder back into place and tossed it back into the glove compartment. "How're you not bug food?"

"We try to avoid them at all costs," Masato claimed. "And you're right, those pistols are damned near useless."

"We?" Asami pressed.

"Narumi and myself. There used to be a couple of other guys with us. We had… we had a… falling out."

"And you ended up with the guns?"

Masato shook his head a bit. "One of them had a shotgun, kind of like yours. He took it with him. I don't think he had very many bullets, though."

"I've met a lot of people since the world ended," Asami mused as she pantomimed shooting something with her shotgun. "I never really got along with most of them for very long. It ended badly from time to time."

"You are a very scary little girl," Masato spoke his thoughts.

"Hey! I'm seventeen!"

Although Masato was more than a bit skeptical of Asami's claim, he wasn't kidding about how scary she seemed. "Noted."

Asami quickly perked up as she leaned over the dash and pointed. "Hey! Is that the radio station?"

"Yeah," Masato confirmed as he moved to park the beat-up old truck. "We're here."

As soon as the truck came to a stop Asami jumped out of the cab and ran around to the side. "Gimmie my bag!"

Keeping one eye on Masato and the other on her surroundings, Kaorin reluctantly passed Asami her bag. "Keep an eye out for an ambush or traps," Kaorin whispered another warning before hauling down her own bag and leaping down to the pavement.

"I barricaded the front doors," Masato explained as he pocketed his twin pistols and led the way. "There's a side door we can use."

The two girls warily followed him into a nearby alley where he opened a door to the radio station. "After you," Kaorin insisted as he held the door open.

Instead of blindly entering, Kaorin switched on her weapon's flashlight and swept the interior as best she could. "Looks clear," Kaorin muttered. "Cover me."

Asami took one last glance about the alleys before following Kaorin into the building. "See anything?" Asami asked as the duo swept the open and rather unimpressive lobby with their lights.

"You two don't need to worry," Masato assured. "There shouldn't be any of those bugs in here."

"We're not checking for crawlies," Asami bluntly informed him. "In any case it really does look like this place is empty. Where's the person who needed the bandages and stuff."

Masato pointed to a nearby desk. Leading the girls to the other side revealed a gruesome sight. A very pale woman with short, black hair was laid out on a mat. Her right arm was mangled and her torso wrapped in bloodied cloth. As Masato reached over to the desk and turned on a battery-powered lamp, the newfound light revealed that even the mat was stained with blood.

"That… this looks bad. Is she even alive?" Kaorin muttered as she knelt down next to the motionless girl and gingerly placed the back of her hand against the woman's cheek. Her skin felt cold and damp.

"You-can you help her?" Masato begged.

Kaorin looked to Masato before focusing again on the woman. "I'll try," she affirmed. "Asami, keep watch while this guy and I try to get her patched up."

Asami pouted a bit. "I wanted to go exploring…."

"Just stand guard! You can play later!"

"Bo-ring," Asami complained.

As Kaorin and Masato worked to remove the makeshift bandages, the woman stirred. "It… it hurts," she feebly hissed as she struggled to open her brown eyes. Kaorin went back to her bag and fished out a couple of pill bottles as well as a fresh bottle of water. She measured out three pain pills and an antibiotic. "This will take the pain away, though you'll definitely be pretty loopy," she insisted as Masato helped his friend to sit up. After passing the pills to the woman, she helped her to drink the water to wash them down. "I'm going to patch you up the best I can, okay?"

"Thank you," the woman softly spoke as Masato eased her back down.

"What happened?" Kaorin found herself asked as she organized bandages and antiseptic. "We should give those painkillers a minute to kick in," she added as an afterthought.

"She got bitten by one of those monster bugs," Masato revealed. "I managed to kill it and free Narumi but…"

"Yeah."

Having stood guard for a good six minutes, Asami had gotten bored with guard duty and decided instead to clean all of the guns. After that she took inventory of the remaining weaponry, declaring that they didn't have left to have any "real" fun. Once she finished that, she disappeared into the radio station as she explored every nook and cranny. Finally, she found her way back to the rest of the group and started digging through the supplies. "I'm starving! I'm gonna go ahead and make something."

"Cook a lot," Kaorin urged. "We have twice as many mouths to feed.

"Are you finished torturing that woman yet?"

"We got her patched up half an hour ago. You'd have known that had you stood guard like you were supposed to!" Kaorin harshly informed Asami.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Asami dismissed. "You have any power here or do I need to hook up the car battery?"

"Huh?" Masato muttered as he felt all eyes on him. "Uh, car battery?"

Asami sighed as she fished out the heavy battery. "Man, at least Kaori had a generator and stuff," she complained. "You set up shop here and you don't have anything?"

Masato sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Look, we were with two other guys, but… the things they did Narumi… we ended up running off from them the first chance we got. Then Narumi got bit so we had to stop and stay here. That's why we don't have any real supplies. It was a miracle I got that truck running."

"I guess that explains a lot," Asami mumbled as she wired the battery to the hot plate.

"Finding you two was a godsend," Masato enthused. "I really mean it. I owe you two everything."

"Yeah, sure," Kaorin tried in vain not to sound critical, but her skepticism still showed in her tone.

Masato sighed at Kaorin's hostility. "Look, I understand if you two want to leave. This isn't the safest place to stay the night, after all."

Kaorin frowned as she scanned the darkened room. "It doesn't look too vulnerable," she critically analyzed.

"Want me to take care of it?" Asami volunteered. "I should be able to find some bleach or something nearby."

"I'll take care of the food," Kaorin assured as Asami jumped up, dumped out everything from her bag, and started for the door with her rifle in hand. "Bring back anything that looks useful."

"Leave everything to me!" Asami boasted as she headed out the door.

"Wait… what?" Masato puzzled. "What's going on?"

"Asami will make sure that the bugs don't bother us and pick up supplies," Kaorin explained as she reluctantly took over the cooking. "No one in the world knows how to handle bugs better than her."

"What's her story?" Masato let his curiosity get the better of him. "She said she was a teenager."

"She's seventeen," Kaorin claimed as she kept a wary eye on Masato. "And if you want to keep all your insides the way they are, you won't bring up her heritage."

"Noted."

-Shortly after dusk-

"We will have to find tools tomorrow," Kaorin mumbled as she looked over the generators. "Spare parts if we can find them."

"And ammo," Asami insisted. "We need to find more."

"Yeah, that too," Kaorin muttered as she did her best to examine the generator. "This one's in better shape than the other one. If nothing else I might be able to cannibalize that one to fix this one."

"We don't need both?"

"The more power the stronger the signal, I think," Kaorin claimed. "Since Toudai is pretty close, one will hopefully be enough. Still, if I can get both working, I will. We'll need some diesel to fuel them, too."

"That's a lot of stuff to carry back," Asami complained as she counted on her fingers. "Food, ammo, fireworks, cigarettes, tools, parts, fuel, and… ugh, medical supplies."

"Water, too," Kaorin reminded Asami. "If we're lucky we'll have a truck to help us haul it all."

"What do you mean, 'if we're lucky'?"

"I don't trust that guy and neither should you," Kaorin warned.

Asami tilted her head as she put her hands on her hips. "Why not? He's been straightforward with us so far."

"Maybe it's to gain our trust and lure us into a trap," Kaorin argued. "We can't trust him."

"Why?"

"Because in this world you can't trust anyone!" Kaorin snapped.

"What about me?" Asami challenged.

"You… you're different. You know that," Kaorin assured as she shelved her interest in the generators and focused instead at the quirky girl she had spent the last month with.

"Why?" Asami demanded, not unlike a child.

Kaorin grunted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "My point still stands," she diverted the conversation back to her original idea. "Don't trust that man."

"I'll be sure to sleep with one eye open," Asami begrudgingly resigned.

-Meanwhile-

"What do we do now?" Kagura whispered, as not to attract unwanted attention to the parked bus.

"There… there are a few places on the map to check," Yomi claimed. "We'll search them out tomorrow morning."

"Do you… really think we'll find her?" Kagura asked.

Yomi shook her head before turning her gaze to Chihiro. She was hugging her knees and leaning against the bus wall as she quietly wept. "You know that we won't," Yomi bitterly asserted. "We still have to check."

"Then what? We just go back to Toudai?" Kagura protested. "We can't just give up."

"Where else are we supposed to look?" Yomi bitterly argued. "We've searched all around this area."

"We can't just give up," Kagura meekly urged. "We just… we can't."

* * *

A/N: Like them or hate them, the new OCs won't have a large role to play. They'll just be background characters not unlike Hiro and Ojiisan.


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